LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

^£53iS» 

Shelf..S.S-2~f\3 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 



From '36 to '8y. 



IN TWO PARTS. 



REV. STEWART SHELDON 




TOPEKA, KANSAS: 

GEO. \V. CRANE & CO., PRINTERS AND BINDI 
189O. 



co«« 



£>Xl2UO 

■ SszA 3 



Copyrighted. 1889, by Stewart Sheldon. 



PREFACE 



PART FIRST 
Shows something of school and college ways fifty and thirty 
years ago; of a voyage around Cape Horn; life in Val- 
paraiso, South America; adventures in California in '49 and 
'50; touring through Old Mexico; crossing the Gulf, and 
taking a boat up the Mississippi and Ohio rivers to Cin- 
cinnati and Baltimore, and from there by rail to the old 
home of childhood days, in western New York. 

PART SECOND 
Gives incidents of missionary work in Missouri, Colorado 
and Dakota, with over two years' service in New England 
as Field Secretary of the American Congregational Union. 



DEDICATED 



MY CHILDREN 



AND OTHER YOUNG PEOPLE 



FAVORED WITH LIFE IN THIS PERIOD OF TIME, PROMISING GRANDER 
POSSIBILITIES FOR THE KING'S GLORY AND THE WEL- 
FARE OF MANKIND THAN THE WORLD 
HAS EVER BEFORE SEEN. 



CONTENTS. 



PART FIRST. 



CHAPTER L— School. 
The School — Employments — Punishments — Hanging — Daily Whipping 

— Hoeing Potatoes — Blood Blister — "I'll Kick You Blue" — Design 
of the School — Painted Face — Keeping the Fire — Story Tellers — 
Elm Stumps — Rattlesnake — Famous Hunter — Smelling his Breath 

— The Doctor — Liberty Pole — Jehu-like Drivers — Bees Stolen — 
Stolen Watermelons — Betsy Jane — The Deacon — Signing the Pledge 

— Silver Lake Snake — Queer Minister — His Tea Drinking — His 
Horse — Insane Alan. 

CHAPTER II.— College. 
Entering College — First Class Meeting — Ringing Off the Rust — Night 
Alarm — Law — Missing Bible — No Chalk — Black Cow — Bombard- 
ing the Juniors — Imagination — Little Cherub — Coasting. 

CHAPTER III.— Doubling the Cape. 
Doubling the Cape — Sea Sickness — A Change — Man Overboard — Por- 
poises and Flying Fish — First Whale — First Storm — Cape Verde 
Islands — Fairy - like — Sousing — Swells — The Equator — Neptune' s 
Children — Bathing — Unwelcome Visitor — Magellan Clouds — Fear- 
ful Storm — Sea Birds — Penguins — Icebergs — Kingfisher — Speaking 
a Ship — To New York — Variegated Waters — Twelve Days' Tempest 

— Missing Vessel — Thick Fog —Waterspout — Man-of-war — Beautiful 
Day — Herrings — Whales — land Breeze — The Andes — Oily Waters. 

CHAPTER IV.- Valley of Paradise. 
.Searching the Trunks — Strangeness — Earthquakes — Public Amusements 

— Keeping the Carnival — City of the Dead — The Mass — The Sab- 
bath — Princes and Beggars — Crime — Our School — Boys and Don- 
keys — Distinguished Himself — Dr. Trumbull — Saluting a Peon — 
Gift of Tongues — William Wheelwright — Earthquakes — God's Light 
Needed. 



6 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER V.— Golden Gate. 

Cross Captain-Gymnastic Birds— Clear Water- Peculiar Storm-Pecul- 
iarities—Gambling Houses — Preaching to the Gamblers — City Sur- 
veying—First Fire — Rebuilding — Swift Changes — Profane Man — 
Church Full of Men— Tom Hyer — Poisoned — A Felon — Off for the 
Mines — Mushroom Growth— The Outfit — Camping Grounds — Excite- 
ment of Mining— On a Gold Bed -Gold Hill -The Editor- Dealing 
with Criminals — Midnight Arousings — Dressed-up Indian — Preaching 
in the Mines — Surrounding Scenes— "I'd Like to Preach"— To the 
New Diggings— The Journey — Losing the Way — Meeting the Mail. 

CHAPTER VI.— Old Mexico. 
The Corn Cracker and the Fox — Elective Affinities — Lashed to the Deck 

— Burial at Sea— Land, ho!— Old Mexico — First Night — Death of 
the Doctor — Cholera — Sabbath Halt — Robbers — Hanging Man — 
Lasso Cavaliers — Pumpkin Raft — Mills' Horse — Halls of Monte- 
zuma— Pockets Picked — Mexican Churches — General Scott's Road 

— Fancy Mule. 

CHAPTER VII.— On the Gulf. 

On the Gulf of Mexico — Moonlight Sharking — Bay of Campeachy — Sport 
with the Porpoises — Steamer, ahoy!— Up the Mississippi— Sharpers 

— Home Surprise. 



PART SECOND. — Pioneer Missions. 



CHAPTER I. 
To the Sunny Southwest — Little Whittler — Ainsworth Brothers — Doing 
Pastoral Work — An Ex- Slaveholder— Lover of Flowers — Our Hired 
House — Freedmen — Caste — Identification Wanted. 

CHAPTER II. 
The Land of the Dakotas — Pleasant Greetings— Brule Valley— The Trio 
—Fire Fiend— Pillar to Post— Stormy Night — Results — Caught in a 
Whirlpool — God's Voice — Grand Jury — Santee Agency — Important 
Changes — Indian Chiefs — Cain's Wife — Marked Advances — Frost- 
bitten— Tragic Tumble — Free Pass — Magnificent Farm House — 
Translated Hat — Race with a Tin Pail. 



CONTENTS. 7 

CHAPTER III. 
The Angel of the Lord — Blizzards — Keeping Cool — Funeral Notice — 
Taken for a Stage Driver — Caught in the Dark — Lost on the Prairie 

— In the Old Barracks — Receiving New Members — Last Town West- 
ward — Sioux Indians — Church Gathered- — Tin Horn — Destroyer — 
Up the Vermillion. 

CHAPTER IV. 
Home Missionary Campaign — Cordial Welcome — Going West — "How 
Large a Town is Dakota ? " — Commendable Interest — What's a Dug- 
out ? — A Dialogue — Noble Example — Old Faneuil Hall — Centennial 
Exhibition — Montana Man — The Capitol Building — Other Visits — 
Moody and Sankey — Theological War Horse. 

CHAPTER V. 

Renewing the Buggy — Perils of Waters — Bloody Raiders — Results of 
the Trip — Just the Religion — Want the Gospel — Kind Hospitality — 
Perils of Mud — Diamonds — Specimens — Insane Man — Oaks from 
Acorns — The Lord's House — Revival — The Hopeless Case — Show- 
ing his Colors — Aged Convert — Honor from the Lord — Live Prayer 
Meeting — Enlarging the Church — Home Heathen — "A What!" He 
Answered — An Atheist's Death — Fatal Plunge — Belle of the Town 
■ — Healer of Division. 

CHAPTER VI. 

Church Building Collection — Good Investment — Truth Wins its Way — 
Abusing the Tavern Keeper — New Light Obtained — Tongue Loosed 

— A Stigma — Tobacco — Superintendent and Cigar- — Reformer Re- 
formed — Moving Sermon — Dogs at Church — The Circus — Grand 
Kampeska Hotel — Grand Central — A Quarrel Settled — Storming the 
Fort. 

CHAPTER VII. 
Glorious Overrulings — The Church was Built — Sabbath School and Prayer 
Meeting — A Misunderstanding — Another Happy Ending — A Strange 
Medley — Weekly Pledges — Willing Hearts — Good Shot. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

The Little Boy's Prayer — Killed by his Own Son — Fairy Scenes — Sunday 
Ball Playing — Swift to Ruin — Satan's Emissary — Divine Providences 

— Scoffing Lawyer — Little Child's Funeral — Black Boy and White 
Stage Driver — Pappoose. 

CHAPTER IX. 

Wonder Land — Denver — Clear Creek Canon — Colorado Springs — Cluster 
of Marvels — Santa Pueblo — San Juan Regions — The Disturber Put 
Out — Church Organization — The Two Mourners- — Footing and Ford- 



S i i VTENTS, 

in g _Twin Lakes — Grand View— The Meeting — Diverse Convey- 
ances—Free Rule — Deserted Town— Wagon Wheel Gap — A Rocky 
Mountain Stager — Dead and Dive Timber — Immense Pines — Slum 

Ciullion. 

CHAPTER X. 

Picturesque View — Distances Deceptive— Bird's-eye View— Sand Moun- 
tains— Veta Pass — Soliloquy — Grand Canon — Sunshine— Funeral in 
lhe Mines— Touching Appeal — Gold Hill — Spirit of Union — In the 
Dance House — Colorado College — Gifts. 
CHAPTER XL 
The Major Domine—The Heroine — Remarkable Plistory — Gospel Tro- 
phies—Afraid of the Storms — Providential Delays— Sabbatarian — 
Faithful Witness— Service in the Grove — Shot Dead — Swift Ven- 
geance—Worse than Heathen — Brule Sioux. 
CHAPTER XII. 
Wonderful Railroad Building— A Nation Born in a Day — All Kinds— The 
famous Hunters— Young Plowmen — Hunting Chickens by Railroad 
— Another Little Boy's Prayer Answered — Christmas Present — Lost 
Book — Happy Overrulings — Church Building — Journeying under 
Difficulties— Prayer Answered — Hard to Get and Keep Men — Ask- 
ing Cod — Forward — March — Halt. 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Around the Circle — Hotel Tent — Steamer Ceneral Rucker— Soliloquy — 

( 'rowning Glory. 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Destructive Ice Gorge — Brave Young Men — Fruits of Missions. 

CHAPTER XV. 
Black Hills— The Conveyance — Gumbo — Freighters— Villages and Cities 

— Dead wood — Rapid City — Living under the Ground — Road Agents 

— Rapid Growth — Summary. 

CHAPTER XVI. 
Welcome Home — Religion and Politics — Bible Verse — Santa Claris — 
Taken Away the Well — Baby's Angel — Samuel's Coat — Are You 
Coing to Heaven?— Climb Through — Real Good Meeting — New 
Dress Torn — Little Crumb— Tears with Joys. 
CHAPTER XVII. 
Unsurpassed Skill— The Old House — Roughing It — A Glimpse — Bushel 
of Peas — Kind Helpers — Unexpected Testimony — Some of the Re- 
turns—First Why? — Second Why ? — Professor Phelps — Professor 
II oppin — Professor Park— The Great Need. 



PART FIRST. 



CHAPTER I.— SCHOOL. 

The School — Employments — Punishments — Hanging — Daily Whipping 

— Hoeing Potatoes- — Blood Blister — "I'll Kick You Blue" — Design 
of the School — Painted Face — Keeping the Fire — Story Tellers — 
Elm Stumps — Rattlesnake — Famous Hunter — Smelling his Breath 
— The Doctor — Liberty Pole — Jehu-like Drivers — Bees Stolen — 
Stolen Watermelons — Betsy Jane — The Deacon — Signing the Pledge 

— Silver Lake Snake — Queer Minister — His Tea Drinking — His 
Horse — Insane Man. 

The school house was just at the bottom of a high bluff, 
on the grounds of an old ashery; directly in front of the 
door ran a little brook, all of which furnished rare facilities 
for coasting, digging in the dirt, and playing in the water. 

When the boys were not thus engaged, they were largely 
occupied, when out of doors, skating, snowballing, and sliding 
down hill in the winter, playing ball and goal in the summer, 
and when in the house, both summer and winter, they de- 
voted much of their time in cutting the desks to pieces with 
jack knives. These desks were wide inch planks, set up 
against the sides of the room, the seats in front being plain, 
common benches, so high that small children could not touch 
their feet to the floor. 

Among many punishments was the holding of the ruler in 
the middle of the room as a penalty for whispering, or sit- 
ting on what was called the dunce block, or stooping over ; 
sometimes a long row of boys thus arranged holding down 
the heads of nails in the floor, while the master would march 



io GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

along behind this file of upturned buttresses and hit every 

one a good, smart clip with the ruler. 

Another course with one of the teachers was to "hang the 
boys," as he called it, standing them on a table in the middle 
of the room, with one end of a string around the neck and 
the other fastened to a nail in the ceiling above, there always 
being sufficient slack in the string to prevent any injury. 
The whole thing, though really harmless, was quite a serious 
affair with the boys, the scare and disgrace connected with it 
being a pretty severe punishment. 

One boy used to get whipped about every day, and the 
rule was that when he was whipped at school he must be 
whipped at home, so that he got two scourgings a day, with 
but few exceptions. He had become so accustomed to the 
rod that he took it as a matter of course. 

His love of play was greater than his fear of the lash, as 
seen by his neglect of a task at potato hoeing, which his 
father, who was to be absent from home for three long days 
during one vacation, had left him to do. He went to the 
field and looked over it the first day, and said, "Well, now, I 
can hoe those potatoes in two days easy enough." So he 
went and played the first day. The next day he took an- 
other look, and said, "I can hoe them in one day," and he 
was off again for play. The third morning he went to the 
field and looked at it, and the task loomed up before him in 
fearful proportions. "There are three good days' work 
here," he said ; " I shall get a whipping the best that I can 
do," and so he went and played the third day. 

Another boy, who was so inoffensive that he never got 
whipped at home and only this once at school, was called up 



one day by the teacher, who, without asking any questions* 
applied about his waist most vigorously six or eight strokes 
with a whip which would have answered very well for an ox 
goad. His offense came from a large water blister on one 
of his fingers when, as he held it up between the finger and 
thumb of the other hand, he asked his neighbor to prick it. 
The teacher saw it and there was no escape. As the end of 
the whip chanced to hit one of his thumbs it drew a blood 
blister, and so he~had two blisters, besides what might have 
been termed a blistering all around. But he was determined 
not to cry. Not a whimper escaped him. When the whip- 
ping ceased, he took his seat, and that was the end of it, 
only he thought if he ever came to be a man he would whip 
him in return if possible, but he never had a good chance, 
and the teacher abandoned corporal punishment almost 
entirely, and became a very superior teacher, not being 
instructed, it is presumed after this, to make the fur fly. 

One of the small boys, who had been taught by the teacher 
not to strike back if struck by the larger boys, was one day 
hit by such a boy, when he burst out, "Now, Lon, don't 
you strike me, but if 3 ou do strike, I shan't strike back; I'll 
tell the school ma'am;" and now with a sudden turn of the 
mind, "but if you strike me again, I'll kick you blue, I will." 

Of course the ostensible design of the school was to teach 
the children, and reading, writing, spelling, geography and 
arithmetic had their places during the hours of school, but 
were so conducted as to be avoided if possible. 

My first day at school found one of the larger boys tardy 
at the afternoon recess, but when he made his appearance, 
he had painted on one side of his face in red, and the other 
in green, the head of a man, which some of the workmen in 



,2 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

a wagon shop just above the school house had executed. A 
general commotion of course was produced among the pupils, 
when the following words passed between the teacher and 
the recreant youth: 

"Who painted your face in that style?" 
" Some men at the wagon shop." 

"Well, young man, go straight to the brook and wash 
your face, or I shall have something to say on this subject." 
"But," says the boy, "I can't wash it off; it's dried on." 
"Go immediately, sir, and wash your face." 
He went out, was gone some time, and returned with his 
face completely besmeared with a mixture of green and red 
paint. 

"Go back and wash your face," said the teacher. 
"I can't wash it off; it's dried on, I told you; I scrubbed it 
with a chip and it won't come off." 

"Mind me," was the reply; "go and wash your face, or 
I shall give you a good whipping." 

"It's of no use," muttered the fractious youth," as he 
strode toward the door ; " it won't come off." 

He returned, however, in about twenty minutes with a 
tolerably clean face. 

One of the duties of the boys before and after school 
hours, was that of replenishing the fire, when that import- 
ant element had gone out, which chanced to be very often. 
Lucifer matches had not then come into use, and the flint, 
steel, and punk were not very reliable. So, furnished with 
a curiously punctured, cone-like lantern of tin, a run to the 
nearebt neighbor was the only alternative. Though it fur- 
nished divers opportunities to take vengeance on bumble 
bees as they patronized the flowers of the big thistles in the 



corners of the high rail fences, and to frighten the frogs as 
they peered out of the edge of the water, or sunned them- 
selves on the snags of the old tree by which we had to pass, 
and sometimes gave us an extra chance to stone Mr. Snake, 
or analyze Mr. Angleworm, or give Mr. Chipmunk a 
chase, yet how vexing it was after all our painstaking to 
have some unpropitious puff from old Boreas steal around 
the corner just as we were about to enter the house and blow 
out the light, sending us back to try our luck once more. 
How carefully we would guard the blaze of the tallow dip 
in the curious tin lantern, as we approached the dangerous 
spot the second time, using hats, pinafores, and a double 
breastwork of two us, if there chanced to be two along, 
especially if some favorite play was likely to be interrupted 
by a longer delay. 

As a substitute for much of the light literature with which 
the leisure hours of school boys now-a-days are not a little 
occupied, we were furnished with several wonderful story 
tellers, to whose yarns we used to listen as to fairy tales, and 
which were a great relief from the dry tedium of the school 
room. 

"I was plowing one day," said one of these men, "in a 
field covered with elm stumps. I had fifty yoke of oxen 
hitched to my plow, and I never turned out for anything, 
but went right through the stumps, splitting them in two 
and tearing them up by the roots. Once I had my coat tails, 
standing out straight behind me we went so fast, cut off, as 
I tore through a tremendous stump, and it came together 
and snapped like a pistol. Twice I lost the soles of my 
boots, as my feet stuck out behind me like a flying jack. I 



14 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

plowed a hundred acres of such land," he said. While we 
half doubted, we half believed, his stories, and thought 
certainly he was a wonderful man. 

Another used to tell about catching a rattlesnake that had 
fastened to his pants as he was mowing one day. "At first I 
thought it was a thistle," he said, "and I dragged it around 
for an hour or two. But when I saw what it was, I took it 
off, coiled it up, put it in my hat, and wore it on my head till 
noon. When I got to the house, as the family were all 
seated around the dinner table, I said to them, 'Look here,' 
and straightening out the snake, I bit it from head to 
tail, and that's what makes my teeth so good. They will 
never ache or decay after this, but will be just as sound as 
they now are, if I live to be a hundred 3' ears old." He was 
the most remarkable man that ever lived, in the estimation 
of the boys. 

Another time he said, "As I was out hunting I got after 
a flock of blackbirds, and as they were flying around a hay 
stack, I gave my gun a kind of swing, and as I fired it off at 
the same time, the shot went clear around the stack, and I 
caught them in my gun barrel, didn't lose one, and killed 
twelve dozen and fourteen birds." What was Nimrod to 
him in our estimation! 

Another one who opposed the teetotalism that prevailed 
in town said: "As they sold no liquor in Perry, I went down 
into Leicester to work in haying and harvesting, and when I 
came up .Saturday nights to spend the Sabbaths, the men 
would pay me twenty-five cents a piece to smell of my 
breath. I made more money in that way than I did in 
working." 



SCHOOL. 15 

Hour after hour would they spin out to their youthful 
hearers those wonderful stories, and we would drink them in 
with the utmost avidity. 

On our way to and from school, we often fell in with the 
good doctor of the parish, who was a general favorite, espe- 
cially with the children. He would frequently give us rides, 
and we always learned something worth knowing in our 
pleasure trips with him. He was one of nature's noblemen. 
As a physician he ranked first. As a Christian he always 
honored his profession. Pre-eminently was he the friend of 
the poor, giving them his services in the majority of in- 
stances, and never making an account against any one for 
extracting teeth, which was no small task in those days, 
before dentistry had come to be a profession by itself. 

"I have taken out teeth enough," he said, "to amount to a 
thousand dollars at a shilling apiece, but as I think those who 
have the teeth pulled have the worst of it, I never charge 
any thing." 

Although he was a heavy, thick-set man, yet he was as 
spry as a cat. It was a pleasure to him and a good thing for 
certain young men, that he could take the conceit out of them 
so easily. At a time of some great political excitement, the 
boys had raised what they called the liberty pole. It was 
very high and tapering at the top. In the morning of a great 
political occasion, when the town was to be thronged with 
visitors and the people harangued by orators, they had put 
up their gay streamer, which floated proudly on the breeze, 
as the booming cannon gave forth its sounds and the tide of 
merry people poured into town. The liberty pole was the 
great center of attraction. All of a sudden, by some unpro- 



1 6 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

pitious whiff of wind, this beautiful streamer had become en- 
tangled in the top of the pole. Every means to extricate it 
proved a failure. "What shall we do?" said the young men, 
the bloods of the town. The doctor came along. He saw 
their trepidation. "What shall we do, doctor?" said one and 
another. "Climb up and loosen it," said the doctor. "It 
can't be done," they all said. The only answer was, "You're 
a smart set of young men." Upon which, as the story goes, 
he pulled off his coat, vest and boots, and went up almost like 
a squirrel, unfastened the streamer, fixed everything all right, 
turned around and came down head first. 

At another time the doctor was returning from the raising 
of a large barn, about two miles from town. As he was 
driving leisurely along, the check rein down and in no espe- 
cial hurry, one of the Jehu-like drivers came up, drew a tight 
rein, snapped his whip and went by the doctor in a jiffy. At 
length another drove up and went past in a similar style. 
Then a third, and a fourth. 

"Those chaps need a lesson," said the doctor, and now's a 
good time for it." His horse was remarkable for speed if he 
desired it. He gave the word. The gay young men ahead 
saw him coming. "What," they cried out, "can his horse go 
so like the wind! We never saw him drive in that style." 
They put to the whip but in vain. One after another was 
soon left behind, and the doctor went sailing into town many 
rods in advance of them all. 

They looked blank enough when they next met him. 

At another time the doctor lost a hive of bees. He re- 
quested that nothing should be said about it and not a word 
was uttered by one of the family. He mistrusted the thief 



SCHOOL. 1 7 

but kept quiet. One day he met him, and the man, thinking 
of course that the matter had been talked of in the commu- 
nity, said, "Well, doctor, have you found out yet who stole 
your bees?" 

"I've just found out. Now why did you do so mean a 
thing and injure yourself and me too?" 

The man was so completely taken aback that he owned up 
and made full restitution. 

On another occasion some of the roguish boys stole a large 
portion of his watermelons. He suspected the chaps, doc- 
tored the best of the melons that remained with a pretty 
strong but harmless infusion and was soon called to doctor 
the boys. "Ah," said the doctor, "I recognize these melons. 
Next time come "and ask for them and I'll give you some 
that won't make you sick. Here, take this medicine so and 
so; you'll soon be well, I'll call to-morrow." He called, but 
they had so improved that they did not wish to see him. 

To show the occasional excitement of people who called 
for his services, he once told the following story of a good 
neighbor who came for him one morning, and all out of 
breath rushed into the house exclaiming "O doctor! doctor, 
come quick, quick ! Betsy Jane's fallen up stairs and struck a 
knot hole in her eye and we're afraid she won't live from 
one end to 'tother!" evidently meaning, "down stairs" and 
"one minute to another," to say nothing of what the "knot 
hole in the eye" did mean. 

But the deacon no less than the doctor was a friend of the 
school house occupants, and when the teacher pronounced the 
ever welcome word "dismissed," as fast as young feet could 
scamper, we often made for his fields to get the tid bits of 

2. 



1 8 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

comfort that he was always ready to give. We loved to 
watch him at his work. He would lay the smoothest swath 
with his keen scythe, pitch on a load of hay in the quickest 
time, and do the most logging of any man in town. He was 
a radical by nature, believed in progress and practiced accord- 
ingly. When he went into that new country, he cut his way 
with an ax through the thick timber to reach the site of his 
homestead with a team, planted the dried-up apple seeds that 
he took with him and ate of his planting more than fifty 
years. He helped organize a church, for want of a better 
place, in a barn, and lived to see the stately meeting house 
and hundreds of church members. 

When almost every one drank whiskey, and the pulpit 
even was not always a stranger to the bottle, he said, "I'll 
sign the pledge, and no more of the wretched stuff shall be 
found on my premises. If I can't get men to work for me, 
then I'll do without them." 

But he had no trouble. He prosecuted the rumseller for 
selling without a license, made his town the banner temper- 
ance town of the State, and enabled the children of the 
school at ihe old ashery grounds to say, at the age of young 
manhood, "We have never yet seen an intoxicated man." 

In after years when the great Silver Lake snake excite- 
ment prevailed, he had to stand almost alone, as he had done 
for years before, on other questions of general interest. 
That there was something, or supposed to be something, he 
had no doubt, but that there was a great live serpent there, 
he did not believe. People came from long distances to see 
the creature. Editors and other prominent men from New 
York city, and Boston, and Philadelphia, and all over the 



school. 19 

country came. An observatory was built near the lake, spy 
glasses of large magnifying power were obtained, a sailor 
with his regular Jack Tar suit was brought from New York, 
and with whaling boat and harpoon and various tackle, he 
sallied out after the monster on several occasions, came very 
near hitting him once or twice; the most reliable men in town 
had seen him at different times, seen him very distinctly; 
correspondents for the papers had seen him; flaming pieces 
had been published; sure enough, the great, famous, world- 
renowned sea serpent that had sometimes been seen in the 
middle of the Atlantic, and sometimes in the Indian Ocean, 
had got up, wonderful to tell, into Silver Lake, a little sheet 
of water three miles long and half a mile wide, in the town 
of Perry. Where was the inlet or the outlet ? 

On! on! on! It was the eighth marvel of the world. 
And yet the deacon was an unbeliever. 

Well, how did it turn out? 

Some young chaps wanted to make a little money, and so 
they got up a gutta percha snake, which they worked by 
means of ropes and wires, as they were concealed away in 
the brush, the headquarters of all this excitement. 

It was worse than the Cardiff giant, and turned out very 
much as the good deacon, the safe patron, and the true friend 
of the children thought it would. 

Strange to say, the pastor of the parish was just the 
reverse of the doctor and the deacon. We children dreaded 
to meet him, and when we saw him coming, we would run 
and jump over the fence or stone wall, and hide till he had 
gone past. When he came for a pastoral call, we would 
scud for the garret or the barn, and never show our heads 



20 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

till he was well out of sight. He was supposed to he a man 
of great learning, a physician and a clergyman, but very 
eccentric, and in many things remarkably void of common 
sense. 

At every meal, two cups besides his own were turned 
from the boiling tea pot, his being served first, and always 
returned for a second cup by the time the other two were 
passed. How he did it unless he had a cast iron throat, no 
one seemed to know. But he invariably insisted on having 
his tea in just that way. 

As to his horse, he was what most people would have 
called a little stubborn, had they dared to apply that word to 
the minister. This animal was a little black French pony, and 
she was always running away with him, and yet he would not 
part with her. As he was driving her home from meeting 
one day, a small lad came along holding on to the tail of his 
cow as the quiet animal plodded on her way, and the little 
runaway started and landed the whole load in a muddy 
stream, piling them all together, with the wagon on top. 
The mud was so deep and soft, that they were almost liter- 
ally buried in it, and there they laid till parties from the 
house reached them, when they first lifted off the wagon, 
which was turned entirely over, and then pulled out the 
riders, and at length the horse. It was a wonderful escape, 
notwithstanding the soft place chosen for them, and yet he 
would not part with the brute. Shortly after this, as he had 
driven through the gate and was shutting it, the squealing 
of some pigs lying near started the nervous beast, and she 
soon broke from the wagon and ran with nostrils distended 
and head erect, till she reached a piece of timber about a 



SCHOOL. 2 1 

mile distant, but still he would not part with her. Not long 
after this he was thrown from his wagon, and so injured 
that he died. 

But the insane man, who for a time had full sway, coming 
and going like a phantom, and doing a good many startling 
things, had quite a strong hold upon the youthful members 
of society. As we were returning from school, he would 
sometimes overtake us, riding his horse at full speed, when 
dismounting, he would insist upon two or three of us get- 
ting on, while he would walk and lead the horse. Now and 
then he would visit the school and give a pleasant address to 
the pupils, seasoning his talk with just enough sharp and 
witty sayings to provoke the smile of his hearers, and make 
them glad to have him come again. 

While at church one day, he left the gallery where he was 
sitting, and went down to the stove to warm himself. All 
of a sudden he darted up into the pulpit, and brushed the 
minister's notes out of the Bible, saying, "I want those," 
when he turned and rushed out of the house, got on to his 
horse, and was off in a hurry. At another time, coming to 
church late, he slipped in on the ladies' side up stairs, went 
to the back of the gallery and took his seat. The discourse 
that morning was benevolent in its character, and a collection 
had to be taken up. He had come prepared. So every few 
moments he would toss down toward the pulpit a silver 
dollar or a fifty cent piece. He had about twenty dollars in 
change which he proposed to give in that way. His idea 
was, as he afterwards said, to pay as he went along. 

On another occasion he went into the church at the village, 
took the Bible, got on to his horse, and rode through the 



22 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

town, stripping out the leaves, and saying, " These leaves are 
for the healing of the nations, and I'll scatter them broadcast 
among the people that they may eat and not die." 

At still another time, when there was a meeting on a week 
day, he went into a store, took some weights from the coun- 
ter, and rode around the meeting house, throwing them 
against the building with all his might, and crying at the 
top of his voice, " I'll break the bars of death and hell." 

But with all his strange movements the children were 
somehow drawn towards him, and he always seemed to have 
some kind word for every one. 



CHAPTER II.— COLLEGE. 

Entering College — First Class Meeting — Ringing Ofi the Rust — Night 
Alarm — Law — Missing l!i!>le — No Chalk — Black Cow — Bombard- 
ing the Juniors — Imagination — Little Cherub — Coasting. 

Graduating from the school on the grounds of the old 
ashery, the academy found a few of the larger boys aspiring 
after the honors of college. Two or three years, and the 
imperfect mastering of a little Latin and Greek, and some 
other requirements of the catalogue, and after a journey of 
four days on the Erie canal and a trip of twelve miles by 
stage, we found ourselves in the presence of the faculty, 
running the gauntlet between Greek prosody, Latin conju- 
gation, a little history, and a few other requirements prepar- 
atory to entering college. 

One of the first meetings of the class for business, outside 
the regular routine of college duties, was to choose a leader, 
who was to carry the class club. This club was a large bat, 
about three times as large and heavy as that used by ball 
players, and muscular strength decided who should carry it, 
and in this respect be the class leader. The man who could 
hold it out at arms' length the longest, was the man for this. 
The successful aspirant died before the first year ended, and 
another man was chosen in his place. This club had been 
handed down from time immemorial, and belonged to the 
Freshman class. It was to be carried when the class went 
forth on any expedition of muscular strength, perhaps in 



24 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

some contests with the Sophs., or some tilt with the Juniors, 
or some other knightly errand to which college boys used to 
be so liable forty years ago. 

At the close of the third term, came the first cemmence- 
ment, bringing graduation and diploma to the Seniors, and 
to the Freshmen a time for ringing off the rust and stepping 
up into the realms of the grandiloquent Sophs. This ring- 
ing off the rust consisted in getting access to the chapel bell, 
some time about midnight or later, and getting out of it all 
the noise possible, breaking down in the operation a few 
doors and smashing in a few windows, as a last valorous act, 
with the famous club, soon to be delivered up to the new 
class. The practice had become so obnoxious that the 
faculty determined to break it up, and declared themselves 
accordingly. This set some of the boys on their mettle. So 
with painted faces and disguises of various sort, they as- 
cended the narrow stairs leading to the steeple, blocked up 
the way behind them, and were soon in their strong castle, 
with the bell in full possession. Must lustily did they ring 
it, and beat it with bars of steel. They also took with 
them a small cannon, which they fired as rapidly as possible. 
Soon the faculty approached. Finding no way of access to 
the belfry, they began to march around the chapel, with the 
evident intention of keeping vigil that night, and bringing to 
justice the offenders. The boys saw it. A bad fix. What 
should be done ? Most of the students in the other classes, 
not far from two hundred in all, were out watching the 
movements, and of course pretty strongly in sympathy with 
the gay birds of the belfry. A dispatch was sent down by 
means of the bell rope, asking counsel of friends below, as. 



COLLEGE. 25 

the faculty went their rounds wholly ignorant of the commu- 
nications between the upper and lower parts of the chapel. 
Word was sent up to the steeple prisoners, "Take the light- 
ning rod." And now, while the faculty were on the other 
side of the building, as they inarched around, a whistle from 
below would be given, and down would come some chap 
with palpitating heart and blistered hands, when he would 
scud for his room, wash his face, don his ordinary apparel, 
and in a moment or two be out in the crowd. 

Thus the famous fifteen escaped. They all descended un- 
harmed, with the exception of a few insignificant scratches 
received by their perilous journey over the thoroughfare of 
old Jupiter's thunderbolts. It was now two o'clock at night, 
and the boys had departed to their several rooms to sleep and 
dream over their last adventure. But what of the faculty? 
They still keep up their watch and march, waiting for the 
morning, and doubtless pondering the unpleasant task of send- 
ing adrift those disobedient captives up in the steeple, as they 
supposed. On being told, as the day began to dawn, that 
the bell ringers had escaped, and were in their beds dreaming 
of weary night vigils, the very unpleasant sensation came 
over them, "We're sold, we are," and changing their centrip- 
etal course, they formed eight centrifugal bodies, marching 
off to their respective domiciles just as the sun was rising. 

The next day was commencement, but not a word was 
said of last night, and from the appearance of faculty or 
Freshmen, no one would have known that there had been 
any such a thing as last night. But the rust was rung off, 
the class was considered as heroes above their predecessors, 
and the faculty were very thoughtfully saved the unpleasant 



26 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

task of expelling twelve or fifteen boys, ready to run such 
fearful risks for the sake of carrying out the time-honored 
custom of ringing off the rust. 

But now and then the college bell was rung on other occa- 
sions out of time. The first college bell of the day was at 
eight o'clock in the morning. One bright moonlight night, 
the bell ringer suddenly awoke, bounded from his bed, and 
without looking at the clock rushed for the rope and rung 
away with all his might, supposing it was late. After the 
ringing was over, he thought he would just look at the time, 
and lo! it was one o'clock at night! The next day one of the 
recitations was in mental philosophy, when the president, 
just at the right time, called the bell ringer." 

"What's the next topic?" 

"Dreams," was the answer, responded to by a good, 
smart clap by the class, suggested by the alarm of the pre- 
vious night. It was a pleasant episode, enjoyed by both 
teacher and pupils. 

About the same time, the topic one day was law. It had 
been shown that custom sometimes makes law which is just 
as binding as any law. The professor had insisted upon this 
with considerable emphasis. At length he proceeded to an- 
other part of the topic, when the reverse is true, and to illus- 
trate, asked one of the boys, not remarkably bright: 

"For example, would it be right for you to go out under 
the woodshed and steal your neighbor's wood?" 

"Yes, sir," was the prompt reply; "it's the universal cus- 
tom." 

A good round of applause followed. The teacher appre- 
ciated the point, and enjoyed the joke with the class. 



COLLEGE. 27 

On one occasion a few of the roguish boys, in a hurry 
to get to the post office, and hoping to shorten the evening 
chapel exercises, (the whole college meeting every morning 
and evening for prayers,) slipped into the chapel, removed 
the Bible from the desk, and put a Greek lexicon in its place. 
It was the president's turn to read that night. With usual 
dignity he moved to the pulpit, opened the dictionary (which 
in outside appearance was very much like the Bible), quickly 
mistrusted some game, and turned over leaf after leaf, till he 
seemed to reach the right place, when he repeated word for 
word the first chapter of John, closed the book, and made 
his prayer as usual. 

At another time, as the students were crowding into the 
chapel, the Bible was removed, and there was not time to 
procure another without delay. Professor M. was to offi- 
ciate. He walked up to the desk, and as if it had been the 
habit of his life, he very deliberately pulled out a Bible from 
his pocket, read the 119th Psalm, and made a prayer cor- 
respondingly long. It was another heading-off of mischief- 
makers, who could not understand how the professor should 
have had a Bible in his pocket for such an emergency. 

Another day one of the boys, thinking that he might be 
called on in mathematics, and not understanding the lesson, but 
wishing to have the teacher suppose he did, slipped into the 
recitation room just before the class was called, and removed 
the chalk from the blackboard. As he feared, he was the 
first to be called. A few questions were asked, and some- 
what ambiguous answers were given, when the professor 
said: "You may go to the blackboard and work out such a 
problem." 



2b GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

As crank as a major he walked to the hoard, first looked 
at one end and then at the other, and as if disappointed 
in not finding any chalk, he replied, with great assurance: 
"Professor, there's no chalk here." 

Whereupon the professor questioned him a little farther: 

"You understand it, do you?" he said. 

" Yes, sir," was the prompt reply. 

"If you had some chalk you could work it out, could 
you? " 

"Yes, sir." 

" Very well," said the professor ; " as there 's no chalk at 
the board," (the young man was turning for his seat,) "you 
may take this." And he very deliberately pulled out a piece 
from his pocket. 

The boy was perfectly confounded; he could do nothing. 
But why in the world " Old Conic Sections," as the professor 
of mathematics was called, should carry chalk in his pocket, 
was a harder problem than the one he couldn't solve on the 
blackboard. 

One night a fearful racket was heard at the door of one 
of the tutors' second-story front room. This tutor was near- 
sighted, and rushed out, with lamp in hand, to see what was 
up, when he discovered a whole posse of chaps at the head 
of the stairs, where they seemed to be waiting for him. 

"Now I've got you!" he exclaimed, as he reached out to 
seize one by the collar. 

But he didn't quite get him, and he made another attempt, 
and finally followed him all the way down stairs, grabbing 
at the boys, but missing every time. 

They had got him far enough, and now they were off. 



COLLEGE. 20 

He turned and went back to his room. As he opened the 
door, what should he meet but a large black cow staring him 
in the face ! She had been turned in there by a part of the 
same crowd that first made the racket at the head of the 
stairs, while the other part lured him below for the very 
purpose of slipping these hoofs and horns into his room. 

By this time no boy was to be seen, save as he might be 
in his room, apparently fast asleep. Foreign help had to be 
obtained in getting out this live stock, and the night was 
pretty much consumed in the operation. 

One warm summer day, an uneasy little fellow sat perched 
in the window at the time of recitation, throwing paper wads 
into the window of the Juniors' recitation room. The situa- 
tion was too good to be lost, and a young man, always ready 
for fun, arose, handkerchief up, as if bleeding at the nose, and 
asked to be excused, when he rushed up stairs just above the 
boy in the window, and splash, came a tub of water, giving 
the appearance of a drowned rat to him who was so zealously 
bombarding the Juniors. The professor himself could not 
maintain a smooth face, as the cheers followed and the pre- 
tended nose-bleed opened the door and took his seat in the 
class. It was soon over, and the lesson went on as usual. 

One day Mr. Z., as we will call him for convenience, now 
an eminent lawyer in one of our large cities, was thus beset: 

"What's the matter?" said his chum, as they were making 
their toilets in preparation for breakfast. "You look sick; I 
never saw you look so." 

"I guess it's all in your eye; I feel well enough," was the 
answer. 

Starting for breakfast, another salutation met him : 



30 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

"Good morning, Z.! Blues, sick, eh?" 
"No; feel as well as I ever did." 

Approaching the gate, he was accosted in a similar strain 
by a third party. Half way to his boarding place, and as he 
was going in at the door, came a fourth and a fifth greeting 
of the same sort. 

"In all my born clays," said one, "I never saw Z. look so 
pale." 

"Don't he look like a ghost, John?" 
" So I think," said one and another. 

After breakfast, all the way to his room, the same cpieer 
greetings met him. He began to think he was sick. He 
went to the looking glass, and as he stood looking, he said 
to his room mate: "Chum, do I look sick? I don't know 
how many fellows have told me this morning that I don't 
look well." 

" That's what I thought." 
"Well, I don't feel first rate, that's a fact." 
He drew a long breath, shut up his book, and said: "I be- 
lieve I shan't go into the recitation this morning." 

"I wouldn't," said his chum, and before the eight o'clock 
bell rang he went to bed, and staid there all day. 

Now and then some one would come in, speak of his bad 
looks, and talk of sending for the doctor, until poor Z. was 
really sick. 

The game was successfully played. His imagination had 
worked to suit them. Towards night the parties to the 
secret rushed into his room pell mell, pulled him out of bed, 
told him what they had been at, declared that he never 
looked better, and marched him off to tea. They simply 



COLLEGE. 31 

meant fun, but happily escaped what might have been a 
serious affair. 

About the close of the second year, a little blue-eyed 
cherub came to the home of one of the professors, and con- 
gratulations from the class must be given of course. 

A small cradle, a gay suit of clothes, a tiny pair of shoes, 
a rattle box, a tin whistle, a miniature drum, and other ap- 
propriate baby treasures, were gotten up, and a committee 
appointed to bear them to the recitation room, with gilt- 
edged note paper, excusing the professor from the recitation 
that day. 

He accepted the testimonials, and gracefully bore off to the 
better half of his lordship the trophies and the card, explain- 
ing the absence of the class at the hour of recitation. 

No black marks for that day. 

Not far from this time the joyful period had come when 
Old Tacitus was finished, and now what should be done with 
his venerable classic remains? It was thought that cremation 
would be the proper thing. After due preparations, a line 
of march was formed, and the slow, solemn step of the 
stately Juniors, with music of muffled drum and a plaintive 
air on the fife began, till the fated spot was reached. The 
bier, with Old Tacitus lying in calm repose, surrounded with 
a wreath from the prickly pear and the wild rose, was placed 
over the bundle of faggots, well seasoned with tar, asafcet- 
ida, pulverized rosin and pitch; a doleful song to the Latin 
muse given, with a regular break-down chorus, a grave ora- 
tion pronounced, and the match applied, when drum and fife 
and bier were consumed, together with the ancient hero of 
Latin lore. The sun was bright in mid heaven when the 



£2 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

ceremony occurred, and the merry whistle of the retiring 
mourners was only heard as they marched back to the recita- 
tion room, and disbanded for dinner. 

In the winter season, almost every boy had his little hand 
sled for riding down the hill between the college and the town. 
This hill was nearly a mile long, and starting at the top, only 
about a minute would intervene before the bottom was 
reached. It was exciting sport, twenty or thirty sleds, one 
after another, going with more than railroad speed, and com- 
pelling all teams to give the right of way or run the risk of 
a collision and a run away. At one time the boys got a 
farmer's large wood sled, and with twenty or thirty passen- 
gers, were accustomed to make the trip. This was so dan- 
gerous that the faculty interposed, and said: "No more of 
that style, boys." 

But one chap thought he would have just one more ride, 
and not being able to induce anyone to go with him, he con- 
cluded to go alone. When about half way down, he met a 
cow. In her slow movements to get out of the way, she was 
tripped up, and falling back upon the young man's lower ex- 
tremities, her feet in the air, his head bent back, and his hat 
gone, away they went to the bottom, a ludicrous sight, but 
not so funny for the boy, who was several weeks under med- 
ical treatment before he recovered from the contusions in- 
curred by this new style of coasting. 



CHAPTER III.— DOUBLING THE CAPE. 

Doubling the Cape — Sea Sickness — A Change — Man Overboard — Por- 
poises and Flying Fish — First Whale — First Storm — Cape Verde 
Islands — Fairy - like — Sousing — Swells — The Equator — Neptune's 
Children — Bathing — Unwelcome Visitor — Magellan Clouds — Fear- 
ful Storm — Sea Birds — Penguins — Icebergs — Kingfisher — Speaking 
a Ship — To New York — Variegated Waters — Twelve Days' Tempest 
— Missing Vessel — Thick Fog— Waterspout — Man-of-war — Beautiful 
Day — Herrings — Whales — Land Breeze — The Andes — Oily Waters. 

Out of college, and the boundless deep seemed to say, 
"Toss upon my old waves for a while and rejuvenate ex- 
hausted nature." Our vessel was a brig. Our captain was 
an experienced sailor, and the passengers the same in number 
that went into the ark. They seemed to be agreeable com- 
panions, and everything promised a pleasant voyage. 

Before morning, oh how sick! Well, why not as well die 
in this way as any? We kept looking to see if our very 
boots would be spewed out amid the terrible retchings. And 
then the stolid indifference of our sea-hardened companions, 
as if they rather enjoyed it, only intensified our misery. 
Strange, that men will laugh at one when seasick! 

But a few days, and all was changed. One bright morn- 
ing as we sat on deck drinking in the beauties that sur- 
rounded us, the captain came up and said, "Who wouldn't 
sell a farm and go to sea?" The air was so exhilarating and 
everything was so pleasant, that we all responded. Several 
vessels were in sight, and everything was most enchanting 
— 3 



34 GLEANINGS BY THE WAV. 

and glorious. In a little while the brig was gliding along 
through immense quantities of sea weed — film}-, cylindrical, 
globular, and picturesque in the extreme. 

But suddenly the cry was heard, "A man overboard!" 
As quick as thought, almost, the shout of the captain fol- 
lowed: "Hard to port the helm! Cut away the tackle and 
lower a boat ! " 

In a moment the sails were flapping before the wind, and 
the first mate and one of the sailors were pulling to the rescue 
of the cabin boy, who had missed his hold while up in the 
rigging. He was sinking as they approached him, but, with 
the daring of a true sailor, the mate dived, seized him, and as 
he brought him up exclaimed, "Jist by the skin of your teeth 
you escaped, my little fellow." 

Soon after this a school of flying fish attracted attention as 
they sprung up and darted along very much like a flock of 
snow birds in the winter, and again plunged into the water. 
Following this a school of porpoises appeared. In high glee, 
and as if on a real holiday excursion, they went leaping and 
bounding along, making the sea foam with their wild pranks. 
There must have been a thousand acres of them, and ten 
thousand times ten thousand in numbers. 

As we were seated at the table during the first genuine 
storm thus far, the vessel gave a sudden lurch, and the dishes 
rattled at a fearful rate. One man's plate, with its contents, 
went across the table into the lap of a gentleman opposite. 
The soup distributed itself about in a very promiscuous man- 
ner. The roast pig bounced from the platter, and very 
naturally went rooting into the potatoes. The glassware 
clicked, and in several instances exhibited sad fractures. One 



DOUBLING THE CAPE. 35 

man turned a cup of hot tea down his coat sleeve. Another 
turned one into his bosom. Another, losing his balance, 
went tumbling to the floor, his well-filled plate and coffee 
mug following. Just as we were retiring for the night, a 
heavy sea struck the vessel, and in a moment the water on 
the cabin floor was ankle deep. 

"Are we sinking?" asked one. 

"No," said an old salt, as he rushed into the stateroom 
pretty thoroughly drenched, "but my deadlight is stove in, 
and I've got a good salt water sousing." 

The captain was trying to close the cabin door and keep 
out the water, which was pouring in from the main deck. 
In a moment more, another sea struck aboard and took away 
the stairs from the upper to the main deck. The ladies were 
screaming with fear, the wind was whistling through the 
cordage, the commander was shouting his orders to the men. 
There was an occasional peal of thunder and a sharp flash of 
lightning, and to the inexperienced in this sort of life, it was 
a little fearful, surely. But one soon comes to understand 
the wonderful strength of a well-built vessel. She is like a 
duck on the water, rising and falling, leaping and bounding 
with the force of the winds and the waves. 

By morning it was pleasant again, and about noon some 
gallant tar at masthead cried out, " There she blows, there 
she blows!" 

• c Where away," asked the captain. 

"Three points on the starboard bow!" 

It was a whale. A jet of water, almost exactly like that 
represented by this creature in the pictures, was seen, and a 
noise was heard very much like the letting off of steam from 



36 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

an engine. A few such puffs and she went down to come up 
again perhaps a mile away. 

We were now twenty-four clays at sea, and for the first 
time made land, as sailors call it. It looked like a great dark 
bank in the horizon. It was the Cape Verde Islands, on the 
coast of Africa, in the line of the trade winds. The next day 
we landed at a point called Bravo. The people, about 7,000 
in number, were of Spanish descent, and but one grade above 
our Indians. They had accmired some considerable civiliza- 
tion, however, for they all knew how to smoke, and tobacco 
was what they most wanted. Even the women had pipes 
dangling at their necks, suspended by a string. Some of the 
small boys were entirely naked, and others had on only a sin- 
gle loose garment. The females had never before seen a 
white woman, and they crowded about our two ladies as if 
they thought them angelic beings. Some of the prominent 
ones insisted on kissing them, and they had to submit in spite 
of themselves. There was one bright-looking girl about ten 
years old, and Mrs. Whiting said she would like to take her. 
The father was called. He was a tall, athletic man, and 
could speak a little broken English. 

"Are you willing," said the captain, "that this good lady 
should take your child and make a pleasant home for her? 
Will you let her go?" 

Straightening himself up in all due dignity, his quick reply 
was: "If he be a boy he may go, but he be a girl and I no 
let him go." 

On this island we obtained almost all kinds of fresh fruit, 
melons, oranges, lemons, plantains, bananas, grapes, sweet 
potatoes and figs, besides fowls, pigs and goats. For a num- 



DOUBLING THE CAPE. 37 

ber of days after this the weather was beautiful, and new 
life began to dawn. Dyspepsia, nervousness, pain in the side, 
and general prostration, were fast disappearing, and we were 
now gliding smoothly and quickly along by a gentle breeze 
in the trade winds, under full sails and square yards. From 
the cabin deck, as far as the eye could see with a spyglass, as 
it swept the horizon round and round, not a neighbor could 
be seen, and yet we were not alone on this mighty waste, for 
God was there, and His works of wonder and beauty were 
very marked. The sun was sinking to all appearance in the 
mighty expanse of waters. The western sky was diversi- 
fied with red, blue, yellow, black, purple and all shades of 
color. At a little distance was a cloud, tinged with the 
orange, resembling a vast field of ripening wheat gently 
sloping down to the water's edge, interspersed with clusters 
of trees and shrubbery. No poet, no painter could describe 
it. None but the great Father could draw such pictures of 
beauty. 

But this scene changed, and a few days after, as I sat on 
the deck, a heavy sea struck aboard and gave me a good sous- 
ing. I fled to the cabin, and as I was entering, my feet 
tripped and away I went, scooting into the pantry. It was 
laughable, but not very pleasant, to be the victim of the joke. 
But then, they all had their turn sooner or later. 

When this storm abated, for a whole day following, the 
mighty sea was moved with heavy swells. As far as the eye 
could reach in a parallel course, was seen a tremendous wave 
approaching. It looked dark and frowning. It towered up 
mountain high, and seemed like a thing of life moving 
through the water, and threatening destruction to all about 



3 b GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

it. It would draw nearer and nearer, till it would reach the 
vessel, gently lift it like a bubble upon its huge back to the 
very crest, and then gently let it down and pass along, fol- 
lowed by another, and so on till night. It was power, grand- 
eur, and sublimity mingled with the awful! It gave new 
meaning to the Scripture, "They mount up to the heavens, 
they go down again to the depths." 
"He lifteth up the waves." 

" The works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep." 
As we approached the equator, the heat was intense. The 
pitch fairly fried out of the pine knots of some boards on 
deck. There was no comfortable place, and nothing to do 
but to sweat and pant, and bear it as best we could. Directly 
over head was the great king of day, which was presently 
left to the north. 

We were now counted as the sons and daughters of Old 
Neptune. It was the custom of the sailors to subject all male 
passengers, on crossing the equator, to a certain process of 
shaving. Some one among the crew would so dress himself 
as to resemble the fabled god of the sea, with gray, flowing 
locks, silvery beard, and long, giant-like trident, having for 
soap a bucket of slush and tar, and a rusty iron hoop for 
razor. Rushing up over the bulwarks as if just from the 
sea, and giving expression as he worked to his quaint gut- 
tural utterances, he would wind up with sage advice to his 
new subjects, telling them of his home in the deep, when he 
would bow a good bye, and depart as if returning to the sea 
whence he seemed to come, to the great merriment of all 
concerned. Those who participated in this ceremony were 
regarded henceforth as the children of Neptune, 



DOUBLING THE CAPE. 39 

When hindered by calms, as we sometimes were in this 
warm region, bathing was a favorite recreation, care being 
taken to have two or three boats alongside the brig, in case 
of an emergency. One day a large shark made his appear- 
ance, while a number of us were out for a swim, and as he 
was just rounding the stern of the vessel to join our com- 
pany, the alarm was given, and a more active set of chaps 
than we were for a few seconds is not often seen. 

It was a narrow escape from a worse fate than Jonah suf- 
fered, and a timely warning for the next adventure. 

"Captain," it was asked, as the brig approached the region 
of Cape Horn, "what are those airy objects up yonder?" 

"Those," he said, "are Magellan clouds, always to be seen 
over the Straits of Magellan, like the fixed stars." 

Not far from this time we encountered a fearful storm. It 
seemed as if our craft would turn over, now dipping the lower 
spars in the water on the one side and then on the other. The 
carpenter's tool chest, full of heavy tools, stationed at one side 
of the cabin, and surrounded in front and at the two ends with 
cleats, turned entirely over and rolled to the other side of the 
cabin. 

What new force to the words of the Psalmist: "They reel 
to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their 
wits' end." Was the Psalmist inspired in writing thus, or 
had he been around the Cape? 

When near the extreme point of the Cape, a happy greet- 
ing came to us from a large number of birds — the Molly 
hawk, cape pigeon, sea hen and albatross — the latter the 
largest of sea birds. By letting out from the stern of the 
Vessel a long line attached to a large hook baited with a 



40 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

piece of oakum, one of them was soon a prisoner. He was 
a royal fellow, and measured from the tip of one wing to 
the other a little over twelve feet. 

Shortly after this a school of penguins appeared, high- 
headed, web-footed creatures, suddenly rising up on the 
crest of the wave. They are amphibious, using their wings 
to help them skip over the water and to run with greater 
speed when on land. They are said to exist in large num- 
bers on the Falkland Islands, where sailors often go to 
hunt them and gather their eggs. We tried to entice them 
with bait and hook, extending many fathoms out in the ves- 
sel's wake, but they were shy, and would not yield to our 
entreaties. 

When near the Cape, two icebergs gleamed in the dis- 
tance. On a near approach to them, they glistened in the 
sun as if set with diamonds, while they towered up a hun- 
dred feet above the water, and yet only about one-eighth of 
their bulk was in sight. 

It was amusing, while in this region, to watch a certain 
bird as it would skim along just over the surface of the 
water, till, seeing its prey beneath, in the form of small fish, 
it would dart like an arrow into the deep, and come up again 
to repeat the same movements, till its appetite was appeased. 

But one of the most joyful sounds that had been heard for 
many a day rang out loud and clear one morning from mast 
head : 

"Sail, ho!" 

"Where away?" asked the captain. 

"Two points on the weather bow," was the answer. 

The spyglass being ordered, brought to view a mere 



DOUBLING THE CAPE. 41 

speck of something white at the farthest visible point. The 
like had not been seen for weeks, and we began to feel that 
we were not alone on this boundless expanse. We had 
neighbors. There were human beings on that craft. The 
question arose, "I wonder who they are?" Conjecture was 
vain. It was proposed to speak them. As the brig ap- 
proached within hearing distance, the captain said: 

"Who commands that ship?" 

"Captain Harding," was the answer. 

" Where from ? " 

"Hong Kong, China." 

"How long out?" 

"Two hundred and twenty-five days." 

"Where bound?" 

" To New York." 

Similar questions were asked the captain of the Lamar. 
Boats were lowered, letters were sent home, and we were 
parted again. No one can understand the interest attached 
to such conversations between different vessels till he has 
had occasion to try it, especially when for weeks he has been 
tossed and driven by the winds and waves, in sight of no 
craft but the one on which he is borne. 

At the extreme point of the Cape, in latitude 53 , atten- 
tion was called to the different colors of the water, the body 
of which was very dark, interspersed with blue, forming a 
striking and beautiful contrast. The weather was so change- 
able, that within twenty-four hours, there were often gales, 
calm, sun, clouds, comfortable warmth, and uncomfortable 
cold. It was the season of the year, however, when there 
were twenty hours of sun, by which we could see to read at 



42 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

three o'clock in the morning, and at eleven o'clock at 
night. 

Soon after passing the Cape, we had a twelve-days tem- 
pest, giving us a very vivid realization of what doubling 
Cape Horn meant. The clouds looked dark and thick, the 
winds blew as if .Eolus had let loose all his forces, the 
breezes howled dolefully through the rigging, the sea broke 
over the vessel as if determined to force an entrance, the 
decks were covered with water, wave after wave dashed 
into the galley, quenched the fire, and set up a terrible clatter 
among the pots, kettles, and other cooking utensils. How 
convenient could we have gone back to the Darwinian oyster, 
and slept till the storm had spent its fury! But sleep was 
impossible. Our only hope was that to-morrow would bring 
a change for the better; but disappointment followed disap- 
pointment, till the Great Ruler of the sea spake, and the 
wind ceased. Then the clouds broke away. The long 
sober faces smiled once more. Sociability again reigned, 
and all were glad. But a few hours, and the sky was again 
covered with thick clouds. The rains poured down in tor- 
rents. The winds blew with more fury than ever. No 
progress was made for thirteen days, and when it did clear 
off, it was intensely frigid, and as difficult to keep warm as 
when at the equator to keep cool. 

In the morning of a very boisterous day, a vessel was 
observed near the Lamar, and bound the same way, to all 
appearances, but before noon nothing could be seen of her. 
When first noticed it was so very rough that she could he 
seen only as she rose upon the crest of the wave and the 
Lamar was on the top of another wave at the same time, 



DOUBLING THE CAPE. 43 

though the two vessels were not more than half a mile apart. 
Could she have gone down while her neighbor escaped? 
Surely, " The lot is cast into lap, but the whole disposing 
thereof is of the Lord." 

After getting around the Cape, we were enveloped in a 
thick fog for several days, under close-reefed topsails, and in 
a heavy current, drifting we knew not whither. When the 
sun again appeared we were in full sight of the coast of 
Patagonia, and with all haste the crew tacked ship and put 
to sea again. 

While seated against the hatchway to the cabin deck one 
afternoon, a water spout, not more than a quarter of a mile 
distant, appeared, a regular column of water, in the form of 
a mighty cylinder, forty or fifty feet in circumference. It 
was drawing up water to bear away to some other portion of 
the globe, or letting down water from an exhaustless reser- 
voir on high. 

The next object of interest was a man of war, an English 
vessel, to the windward. Indications were made for speaking 
her, but she paid no attention to our signal, but bore away 
in another direction, and was soon out of sight. 

The next day the sailing was beautiful, and the day the 
mildest of any for more than two months. In the afternoon 
there was a gentle shower, after which the sun appeared, and 
the heavens were spanned with a brilliant rainbow. The 
wind was pure and balmy, the atmosphere soft and mellow, 
and everything was most harmonious and lovely- 

In an hour or so we passed through a monstrous school of 
herrings. There were acres upon acres, and the water was 
covered with little ripples as they went on their way. We 



44 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

fished them up by simply dropping a line over the sides of 
the vessel, and catching them on the hook, by the sides, or 
the gills, or the fins, or just as it happened. We put over a 
bucket attached to a rope, and dipped them up by the peck 
measure. But alas for the finny tribe. For they were fol- 
lowed by several whales, who approached with open mouth, 
and scooped them in without measure. If the supply was 
great, so was the demand, as seen by the fact that a hundred 
barrels of oil are often taken from a single one of these 
mighty leviathans. 

When within about a week of our destined harbor, some 
of the passengers thought they began to snuff the land 
breeze, though there was nothing that looked like land in 
sight. The big black dog of the brig, Tiger, trusty and true, 
confirmed this belief, for every now and then he would go to 
the windward, and with his head turned up, he would snuff 
and wag his tail, as if scenting something familiar. In a few 
days it was plain that he knew what he was about, for pres- 
ently the land of Valdivia appeared, on the southern coast of 
Chili. What a luxury it was to catch a faint glimpse of 
terra jirma, after being so long tossed upon the billowy deep, 
and rocked by the ocean wave. 

In a day or two more tne island of Mucha was seen, four 
hundred miles from Chili. How we enjoyed the sight! How 
we longed to set foot on the land once more! We lived in 
the joyful anticipation. But a calm of thirty-six hours hin- 
dered us. The days dragged heavily, and all agreed, with 
sailors, that a gale was preferable to a calm. There is some 
excitement about the former, but a dead monotony in the 
latter. 



DOUBLING THE CAPE. 45 

At last the calm gave way. The wind sprung up. Un- 
der a pleasant breeze once more, and within fifteen miles 
from the shore, we could see, for the first time since leaving 
Bravo, the smoke curling up from the hills, an indication of 
human life, and a cheerful omen to tired, tempest-tossed mar- 
iners. 

One bright morning the everlasting-snow-clad tops of the 
Andes suddenly towered up so high as to be visible in the 
clear atmosphere more than a hundred miles. 

The thought of soon going ashore brought out the trunks, 
containing our land attire, so closely packed away, and so full 
of wrinkles, as we prepared to leave the vessel. 

But our attention was suddenly arrested by the water, 
which looked as if there might have been a thousand oil 
wells throwing up their greasy treasures, the mystery of 
which we left unsolved, and on the one hundred and four- 
teenth day after leaving Boston, we were in full sight of the 
city of Valparaiso, on the coast of Chili, south latitude 33 
degrees. 

At ten o'clock, we cast anchor in the beautiful harbor of 
the Valley of Paradise, and went ashore. 



CHAPTER IV.— VALLEY OF PARADISE. 

Searching the Trunks -Strangeness -Earthquakes -Public Amusements 
— Keeping the Carnival — City of the Dead— The Mass— 1 he Sab- 
bath— Princes and Beggars — Crime — Our School — Boys and Don- 
keys—Distinguished Himself— Dr. Trumbull — Saluting a Peon- 
Gift of Tongues— William Wheelwright — Earthquakes — God's Light 
Needed. 

On leaving the brig, all trunks and parcels were placed 
upon the beach, and inspected by a public officer, lest some- 
thing should be smuggled into the country without paying 
the requisite duty. 

Everything seemed strange. The people jabbered their 
Spanish, and gave a peculiar shrug to their shoulders and 
grimace to their faces as they talked. Bareheaded women 
were seen in the street day and night, such a thing as a bon- 
net or hat being unknown to them. Most of the men wore 
the serape, a garment much like a shawl, with a hole in the 
center through which the head went, the whole thing mak- 
ing quite a display by its bright, gay colors, as they rushed 
along on their swift steeds. The hackmen always rode a 
horse and led the one attached to the vehicle. Different 
ranks of priests, some in black, some in gray, some in white, 
flowing robes, strolled about the streets and corners of the 
city. The Italian-like atmosphere, and the intensely blue 
sky, were agreeably noticeable. 

The earthquake shocks, of very frequent occurrence and 
a source of great terror to the people, were as ^agreeable. 



VALLEY OF PARADISE. 47 

Every one rushed to the door at the rumbling noise, sound- 
ing like low, muttering thunder under the ground, making 
the earth tremble and the building creak as if everything 
was tottering over. On going to bed at night, it was a rule 
to place one's clothing so that he could seize it instantly and 
flee from the house, should there be a shock before day. 

The markets abounded in the most luxurious fruits of the 
tropics, especially choice grapes and figs. In our school 
yard were several orange trees, having on them at the same 
time all stages of growth, from the blossom to the ripe fruit. 

Public amusements — boat racing, horse racing, mas- 
querades, climbing greased poles, running races in sacks, 
and the like — were very common. Feast days and fast 
days were of almost weekly occurrence. 

At the keeping of the carnival, for three days in April, all 
vehicles were forbidden in the streets, and one was not even 
allowed to ride through on horseback. Business was prac- 
tically suspended, and the whole city was given up to the 
rites of the occasion. The people thronged the streets, go- 
ing from church to church, muttering their prayers as they 
went, kneeling by the way, before the churches, and in the 
churches, sprinkling themselves with holy water, bowing 
before altars, images, and the statues of saints. 

In one church were altars lighted with the most brilliant 
fires. In another, pictures of Christ as a youth, the mother 
of Jesus, angels and virgins, arrayed most gorgeously, and 
sparkling with costly brilliants. In another church was 
Christ crucified and nailed to the cross. The people would 
bow before these, and kiss the garments, feet and hands of 
some of them. 



48 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

For two days and nights it continued thus, and the third 
day was noted for the burning of Judas, as they called it. 
About ten o'clock in the morning the signal was given, and 
the bells began to ring, guns were fired, horns blown, drums 
beaten. On this day the prohibition against drivers and riders 
was withdrawn, and carriages rattled through the streets, 
horseback riders darted hither and thither, and all was com- 
motion. On almost every corner and in every conspicuous 
place was an image of Judas, filled with brimstone and fire 
crackers. The match being applied, in every part of the 
city was the simultaneous snapping and cracking of these 
scarecrows, till they would be blown to pieces, when one 
man would catch hold of 'an arm, another of the head, and 
run, swinging them through the air and shouting, "Death to 
the traitor!" amid the most boisterous excitement. 

The evening and night were given to the opera, theater, 
masquerades, and various amusements and excesses, as ra- 
tional in proportion as the carnival. 

In one portion of the cemetery were the most beautiful 
and expensive monuments of Parian marble, where the rich 
were entombed, and in another portion a large hole was dug 
in the ground, where the poor were cast without shroud or 
coffin, exposed to the dogs, and dragged out by them some- 
times, so that one would now and then come upon the skulls 
of human beings as he traveled through the fields or forests. 

The mass, sometimes called the host, a company of church 
officials marching through the streets to perform some relig- 
ious rite, was a common spectacle. This mass consisted of 
twelve men, bearing large glass lanterns, always lighted, by 
day and night. They were preceded by a man tinkling a 



VALLEY OF PARADISE. 49 

little bell, to warn the people of their approach, and followed 
by a priest robed in white, one man on either side, holding 
over him a large red umbrella, while twelve armed soldiers 
attended them, and the rabble, ragged and unwashed urchins, 
brought up the rear. It was expected that every one meet- 
ing the host, would stop, take off his hat, and if on horse- 
back dismount and uncover his head. These armed dignita- 
ries were detailed to enforce these regulations, should any 
one be inclined to disregard them. 

The Sabbath was a holiday, the military and fire com- 
panies almost always being on parade, the first hours of the 
day being given to some religious service, and the others to 
some public amusement. 

Men of princely estate on the one hand, and swarming 
beggars on the other, abounded. Sometimes one would meet 
beggars on horseback, and when told that they could not be 
very poor, being able to own a horse, they would reply, " Yes 
but we have to support ourselves and our horse too." 

Drunkenness, licentiousness, and crime in general, every- 
where abounded. Two well-fed, lazy soldiers would be kept 
guarding one prisoner, as he worked on the street, or on 
some public building. 

In our school were a hundred pupils, seventy day scholars 
and thirty boarders from abroad, some of them from over a 
thousand miles away. Most of the boarders were from the 
families of wealthy men, anxious to have their sons acquire 
the English language that they might do business with En- 
glish and American shipping houses. Some of the boys were 
half breeds, with a foreign father and a native mother, 
There were classes in Latin, algebra and geometry, looking 
—4 



50 GLEANINGS BY THE- WAY. 

forward to college. All branches, including French, music 

and painting were taught in the school. 

At five o'clock in the morning, the schoolmaster must be 
up with the boys and take them out swimming, at Fisher- 
man's bay, a mile or so from the city. On our way, a spacious 
plateau, dotted here and there with the shanties of peons 
and their numerous dogs and donkeys, had to be crossed. 
The boys would sometimes mount these long-eared scape- 
graces and take a ride, when the dogs would bark and the 
old women would come out with their brooms and mops and 
pitch into the boys with a vengeance. It was amusing to 
see the little chaps plunge their heels into the sides of their 
borrowed steeds, to hasten their pace, and keep out of the 
way of their pursuers if possible, and then see them tumble 
neck and heels and scamper like good fellows when mop 
and broom from brawny arms, with up-rolled sleeves, were 
threatening to fall upon them. How the boys would laugh 
and the old women spit fire, and shake their fists at the young 
rogues. 

One of the boys of this school afterwards distinguished 
himself at the destruction of the cathedral in Santiago, the 
capital of Chili, when three thousand persons were burned 
to death. As the city authorities and firemen were panic 
stricken, and did not know what to do, he sprang to the res- 
cue, and saved many lives. His good generalship was after- 
wards acknowledged, and the leading papers of the country 
were loud in his praise. It is pleasant to think that the 
teachers of this young man may have contributed something 
to his noble bearing on this occasion. 

Rev. David Trumbull, D. D., since deceased, under the 



I r ALLE J ' OF PARADISE. 5 1 

auspices of the Evangelical Christian Alliance, had formed a 
Congregational church at Valparaiso, composed principally 
of the better class of American, English and German resi- 
dents. They worshipped in a hall, not being allowed to 
build a chapel, have a bell, steeple, or anything that would 
attract attention. The good doctor also started a Protestant 
paper, printed in the Spanish language, advocating the meas- 
ures of the more progressive party of the country. 

While walking out one day in company with a young man 
just from the States, on his way to California, a native peon 
came along, a tall, raw-boned man, and my friend, who had 
hardly learned the common salutation of the day, the full 
extent of his Spanish, said: "Now I'm going to speak to 
him and see what he'll say." Whereupon he addressed him 
with all the assurance imaginable, "Como lo vos, Senor" 
(how do you do, sir); when he, to show the American that 
he understood his language also, responded in the same sang 
froid style, with a most fearful oath, the extent of his En- 
glish, of the meaning of which he was probably entirely 
ignorant. Here the two men confronted each other in blank 
stolidity, not able to carry the conversation any. further, and 
the Yankee, to say the least, quite willing to drop it where 
it was. 

It was curious to see the ease with which some foreigners 
in Valparaiso would carry on conversation in different lan- 
guages. The German seemed to carry off the palm. Here 
is one earnestly conversing on some topic with a fellow 
countryman, and presently a Frenchman steps up, and he 
talks French to him with apparently the same ease, till a 
Chilano approaches, and he rattles off the Spanish as if that 



52 GLEAA r ING S BY THE IV A 1 '. 

was his native tongue, when an Englishman comes along, and 
you would say, "He's a Londoner, sure, by the way he 
spouts the Queen's dialect;" but no, he's a full-blooded Ger- 
man, and master of four languages surely; how many more 
you do not know. But especially was it amusing to hear 
the babble of tongues that prevailed at one boarding 
house, where many nationalities were represented. Spanish, 
French, German, American, Italian, and Irish, the latter of 
the most unadulterated sort, could be heard at the same time. 

Mr. Wm. Wheelwright, formerly of Newburyport, Mass., 
built the railroad now running between Valparaiso and San- 
tiago. He also devised a plan for watering the city, and 
started an English line of steamers between Chagres and 
Valparaiso. Applying to the United States for help to do 
the latter, he was denied, when he went to London, as I was 
told, laid the matter before Parliament, and received aid, 
making the enterprise one of large profit to the parties 
taking hold of it. The Chilanos regarded him as a great 
benefactor to their people, and afterward erected to his honor 
a famous statue in one of their plazas. 

Having just returned from a social gathering at his house 
one night, all hands were startled with the fearful shock of 
an earthquake, followed by a second shock, when uncon- 
sciously every one rushed out into the court yard. Our 
school boys were there almost as soon as any one, and look- 
ing into the street, that too was pretty well filled with people, 
as they had hurried from their sleeping rooms. On several oc- 
casions our pupils rushed from the school room pell mell, 3j£ 
they were startled by this unceasing source of fear. 

Aside from the single drawback of earthquakes, God ^he 



VALL EY ( >/■ P. I A\ I DISS. 53 

given to the South Americans great blessings; a salubrious 
climate and a productive soil, yielding the choicest fruits of 
the earth, and abounding in rich minerals; and yet they can 
never rise to any degree of prosperity till they break off 
their shackles of superstition, and let a little of God's light 
into their souls. 



ta 

CI 



CHAPTER V. — GOLDEN GATE. 

Cross ( laptain-Gymnastic Birds-Clear Water -Peculiar Storm -Pec^- 
iarities-Gambling Houses -Preaching to the Gamblers -City Sur- 
veying-First Fire-Rebuilding-Swift Changes -Profane Man- 
Church Full of Men-Tom Hyer - Poisoned - A Felon -Off for he 
Mines — Mushroom Growth -The Outfit — Camping Grounds— Excite- 
ment of Mining-On a Gold Bed-Gold Hill-The Editor-Dealing 
with Criminals-Midnight Arousings - Dressed-up Indian -Preaching 
in the Mines-Surrounding Scenes -"I'd Like to Preach -To the 
New Diggings— The Journey — Losing the Way — Meeting the Mail. 

From the Valley of Paradise we sailed for the Golden 
Gate. Our captain was a Swede. Friend Sargent, after- 
wards Hon. A. A. Sargent, of California, and later United 
States minister to Berlin, since deceased, was supercargo. 
The sailors were few in number, and of different nationali- 



ties. 



Unfortunately Mr. Swede was not of the most agreeable 
disposition, and the passengers began to realize the force of 
the saying, that the master of a vessel on the land, and the 
same master at sea, may be two very different characters 
Before leaving port he may be wonderfully agreeable, but 
quite the reverse a little afterwards. 

A few days, as the case turned, brought a spirit of mutiny 
among the sailors. One of the men, a hale and robust 
Scotchman, refused to work only as his own personal safety 
required it, and the captain, armed with a revolver, was 
obliged to fill up the vacancy thus made. A poor Pata- 
gonian, unable to speak English but slightly, was three 



GOLD EX GATE. 55 

times brutally sent reeling to the deck because of some 
slight offense not designed. 

We earnestly protested, but a volley of oaths was the only 
answer. Invested with a little brief authority, the captain 
of the Lyon was a conceited fool, and the passengers had to 
get along as best they could. 

The first thing that attracted notice was a flock of white 
birds, about the size of our pigeons. They took the name 
of gymnasts, coming apparently for the amusement of the 
passengers. They would fly side wise, and then backward, 
and then dive, and sail, and jump, and go straight up and 
fall like a dead weight, and turn completely over, and what 
not. 

A few days afterwards, as we were hindered by a calm, 
attention was called to the unusual clearness of the water. A 
heavy white weight was sunk to the depth of a hundred 
feet, and could be distinctly seen. 

Just eight weeks after leaving Valparaiso the equator was 
again crossed, and once more from the south came the beams 
of the king of day. It seemed almost like getting home. 

But a peculiar storm prevailed not far from this time. The 
sea was chopped up in the shape of cones, and their peaks 
were to be seen in almost every direction. About noon a 
tremendous sea struck aboard with a heavy crash, breaking 
through the skylight into the cabin, and making the brig 
quiver like a leaf. For a moment it seemed as if everything 
was breaking asunder, but she soon righted up, and a few 
days of the carpenter's work repaired all damages. 

Again the brig made land ten miles away, a small island. 
Presently the main land appeared. It was American soil, 



56 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

and the next day we entered the bay of San Francisco, the 
mighty El Dorado of the world, inviting thither, through its 
yellow treasure, men from all climes and countries. Going 
ashore, the old stars and stripes were the signal of protection. 

The city, at this time of mushroom growth, with its tem- 
porary houses and canvas tents, looked like a vast military 
encampment. The population was an influx from nearly all 
the nations of the earth, and yet there was a remarkable 
freedom from crime, though everything was without lock or 
bar, and goods in abundance were exposed in the streets. 
The rogues had no way of concealing what their eyes might 
covet, any more than the honest men had of keeping it from 
them, and so every thing was safe for a time. The best 
houses in the city were used for gambling purposes. Liquor 
flowed as freely as the appetite demanded, and every one for 
a time was his own lawgiver touching many of the interests 
of society. Large fortunes were made in a few days by some 
men, and others would just as quickly lose all that they had, 
and try again, and sometimes succeed, and sometimes become 
still more involved. 

Fronting the prominent square of San Francisco, were 
three or four gambling halls — a hundred and fifty feet deep, 
by forty in width, perhaps. Each one of these places had a 
bar, an elevated platform for musicians, sofas, and arm chairs 
in abundance along the sides of the room, paintings on the 
walls to correspond with the place, a half dozen or so tables 
containing a bank of from a peck to a half bushel of money 
in silver and gold, surrounded by as many men as could crowd 
about them, busy in gaming day and night. 

Occasionally in the excitement, or from some actual or sup- 



GOLDEN GATE. 57 

posed unfair playing, pistols would be drawn, and in several 
instances men were fatally shot, when for a brief moment, a 
little ripple, perchance, might be seen upon the surface life of 
these men, and again the tide would run on as if no such 
tragedy had happened. 

After a time the city authorities required the faro and monte 
men to close shop at twelve o'clock at night, and by and by 
to abstain from playing on the Sabbath. When thus com- 
pelled to rest from their illicit trade, they would sometimes 
gather into one room, and listen to a sermon from some 
preacher, always paying good attention, and generally taking 
up a collection for the minister at the close of the meeting, 
sometimes getting as much as fifty or a hundred dollars. 
Thus the Gospel was occasionally preached to men who sel- 
dom if ever entered a house of worship. 

In connection with a former teacher at the Valley of Para- 
dise, the winter was largely spent at the Golden Gate in sur- 
veying, laying out many of the lots of San Francisco, cutting 
through the brush, sighting the first chain, and sticking the 
first stakes that were made in preparation for that now won- 
derful city. 

At the time of the first great fire at San Francisco, while 
hundreds were fighting the devouring element as it swept 
along in its course, a man was seen on the corner where the 
fire began, with his measuring pole, kicking awaj the smoul- 
dering ruins, and laying out work for another building. Just 
eleven days from that time, and the burnt district of several 
acres was all built over, with transient buildings, to be sure, 
but teeming with life and unsurpassed activity. 

Within eight months there were two other large fires, and 



5S GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

four sets of buildings — first, the rough frame covered with 
canvas; next, the light wood houses, made in the States, and 
sent around the Cape; next, the moderately good building, 
with some of the fixtures of a more advanced civilization; and 
next, the substantial brick and si one structure, that would 
answer for a city of fifty years' growth. 

One of the first ministers sent out to unfurl the banner of 
the cross among the gold seekers, was met before he left the 
vessel by a very profane man, who replied to the remark 
that a minister was on board: "A minister! where is he? He 
is just the man! I want to see him and give him the right 
hand of fellowship." As he crowded his way towards him, 
he said : " I understand you're a preacher," and with a start- 
ling oath said, "I'll give as much as any other man towards 
your support. Property is worth more under the Gospel, 
life is safer, community is happier — we can't do without it. 
I came from New England and know the worth of it." And 
he gave the minister $500 a year towards raising the requisite 
$5,000 for his support. 

One Sabbath afternoon, Tom Hyer, of pugilistic notoriety, 
being pretty well set up with liquor, got on a showy horse, 
and rode into the saloons and restaurants as if he were dicta- 
tor of the town. For a little while every one seemed to 
stand in awe of him. At length a small, compact man 
walked up to him and said, "Mr. Hyer, you're my prisoner. 
My duty as the sheriff of this county requires me to arrest 
you as a disturber of the peace. You will go with me." He 
made no resistance and was taken to the lockup. Some of 
the New York boys thought this rather summary treatment 
for their chieftain. Their pride was touched a little, and they 



GOLDEN GATE. 59 

proposed to break him out, and had gathered to the number 
of two hundred or more for this purpose, when the mayor of 
the city made his appearance, and acting upon the force of 
the wise man's words, "A soft answer turneth away wrath," 
very soon quieted the turbulent crowd. "Gentlemen," he 
said, as he stood upon the balcony of the court house, "Mr. 
Hyer has been arrested for disturbing the peace, I regret to 
say. His case will come before the court the first thing to- 
morrow morning, and justice shall be done him, rest assured. 
And now, as peace-loving, law-abiding men, I trust that you 
will disperse and quietly retire to your several places." They 
saw the reasonableness of the appeal, and soon all left. The 
next morning, the prisoner having become sober, was led up 
into the court room, when the judge read to him the charge, 
and asked what he had to say for himself. " Nothing, your 
honor," was the brief reply. "I shall fine you fifty dollars," 
was the answer of the judge. Hyer immediately pulled out 
his pocket book, paid it, and walked out. 

While laying out city lots in San Francisco, poison from 
the oak shrub, which grew very abundantly in that region, 
opened to me the doors of the hospital for a time. With 
badly-swollen face, and itching most intense, my only comfort 
was in scratching. It seemed a favorable time for surgery, 
as no scalpel, or chloroform, or ether was needed, the finger 
nails being sufficient, and the removal of the flesh to the bone 
affording a real pleasure. Suffering thus for two weeks, the 
luxury of a good place to be sick in was wanting, my only 
bed being a large chest spliced out with a board, in a little 
room about ten by twelve feet, containing a cook stove and 
its furniture, a table, three or four chairs and other household 



60 GL /■:. WINGS B J " THE WAY. 

goods. Even this could not be had till late in the evening, 
the other hours in the day being spent in sitting around, and 
walking about, and trying to find a little ease in some way, 
but being obliged to take it out mostly in scratching. In 
about three weeks the medicines mastered, and I was con- 
valescent, though several big scars abide as reminders of 
those weeks forlorn. 

After this, while in the mountains, I paid the doctor $30 
for cutting open and doing up a felon on one of my fingers, 
but in spite of all attempts to the contrary, the bone of the 
first joint came out, and was left to bleach on the peaks of 
the Sierra Nevada. 

The first of February found quite a party of us on the 
steamer Golden Gate bound for the gold diggings. On 
reaching Sacramento we took a small steamer for Marysville, 
and going ashore, in a small canvas house, the only one there, 
with no floor, and other things to correspond, a breakfast was 
obtained of shortcake and coffee, costing each man one dollar 
and fifty cents. 

Four months from this time the population numbered sev- 
eral thousand — a city, with its mayor and other officers. 

Taking what little outfit belonged to the party, about 
seventy- five pounds weight each, it was voted to start on 
foot for the mountains. Eighty miles, and a halt was made 
at Nevada City, then called Deer Creek, consisting of half 
a dozen log huts, and a population of perhaps a hundred 
men within a circuit of four or five miles. A few months, 
and this place counted its inhabitants by thousands. Here a 
week's work, at $10 a day to the man, occupied us, when 
the suggestion of forming another company prevailed, and 
new work was begun. 



GOLDEN GATE. 6 1 

Our outfit consisted for each man, four in all, of a shovel,' 
pickaxe and tin pan, the articles costing the moderate sum of 
$32 — the shovel $16, and the pick and pan $S each. For 
two or three weeks the profits were about what they had 
been, $10 a day each — just about enough to pay expenses. 
Flour was $1.50 a pound. A miner's rocker, the original 
cost of which was perhaps $1, cost in the mines $25. For 
a very plain meal at a rancho or restaurant, $2 was the price. 
Lodging was cheap, the ground and all out doors constituting 
the bed room. 

After a little we found good paying dirt, and the first day 
two of us took out $200. At this time the third man, Grey, 
was up on the middle Yuba, fifty miles above, prospecting. 
He returned Saturday afternoon, before which we had taken 
out over $1,000. 

"Ten thousand wouldn't tempt me to part with a claim 
which I have made up on the Yuba," said Grey. "I 
think we shall make a big pile there. We'll hold on to this 
and work it till the river falls, so that we can go into that 
with advantage. " 

Alter this we counted up from day to day, $50, $75, $100, 
$175 and $200, as long as we held the claim. It was a good 
lead, and we should have kept it, for our aspirations for some- 
thing better ended in failure. 

But the excitement of gold digging! The feeling is all 
the time: The next blow may reveal a fortune! the next 
spade of earth may open the way to hundreds of thousands! 
It has been so with this man here, and that one up yonder, 
and scores of fortunate fellows! 

A few days after changing our camping grounds on one 



62 GLEANINGS B 5 ' THE WA\ '. 

occasion, some young chaps from New York city, with their 
gold rings on, and their gold watch chains and white shirts, 
as usual, comparatively fresh from the city, struck down on 
the very spot where our old tent had been for six weeks, 
rooting up the very trees that had served as jambs to our 
fireplace, and though every one laughed at them for think- 
ing of rinding gold in such a place, it turned out $15 and $20 
to the pan. 

Six weeks on a gold bed without knowing it! The scien- 
tific men would have said, "There's no gold there," but these 
greenhorns, smart enough in handling silks and satins, and 
waiting on ladies behind counters, but perfect novices with 
the spade and pick, blundered upon the right spot the first 
time trying, and made a fortune in a few days. It was won- 
derful how all the scientific theories explode with regard to 
the finding of gold. Just where the geologists would say, 
"This is not a gold-bearing region," it might be found in 
abundance. 

A hard-working man came along one day, and said: "I've 
been in the mines a year, and have only just made a living." 
When, to see how credulous he might be, the answer was: 
" There's plenty of gold all about here. I could go right up 
into that mountain and find it." 

"Do you think so?" he asked. 

"I know it." 

"Will you lend me a pan and shovel, that I may go and 
try it ? " 

"Oh, yes; glad to do so." 

And away he marched to look for gold on the top of a 
mountain. 



GOLDEN GATE. 63 

"I'd as soon think of finding gold in a tree top," said the 
man who had sent him off on his fool's errand, as he sup- 
posed. But he presently returned with his pan of dirt, 
washed it out, and to the surprise of every one but himself, 
had a dollar's worth of gold to show. 

In less than forty-eight hours that mountain took the name 
of Gold Mountain, was all staked out with claims, was swarm- 
ing with men, and yielding its hundreds of thousands of dol- 
lars a day. It would be safe to say that millions were taken 
out of that mountain, and all discovered through a mere joke. 

It was interesting to see the different professions repre- 
sented in the mines — educated men, editors, doctors, lawyers 
— men of culture and high position at home. 

One day while lugging dirt, and looking much like a hod 
carrier, Mr. Hitchcock, an editor of a paper in Ogdensburg, 
New York, called out: 

" Sheldon, what would your folks think if they should see 
you just as you are now ? " 

"And what would the patrons of the editor think, if they 
should see him in his red shirt and slouch hat, plunging into 
the dirt and water in that style?" 

"A great country, this," he said, and away went the rocker 
washing out the little yellow particles that gave the snug sum 
of $50 at night. 

The method of dealing with criminals in the mines was 
somewhat peculiar. As an illustration : One day, when Grey 
was absent, a large muscular man came along, and after talk- 
ing a few moments, concluded to jump the lower end of the 
claim. Our protests were in vain. He simply laughed at 
us, saying: "I think you are pretty clever boys, and I guess 



64 CLE A MINGS BY THE WAY. 

I'll work along side of you," which he did, with all the im- 
pudence immaginable, for two long days, sinking a good- 
sized shaft ten feet deep. When Grey came home, after 
hearing our story, he simply said: "I'll get him out," and 
buckling his pistol about him, he started for the place. 
Grey had been through the Mexican war, was a resolute 
chap, and knew just what to do. Marching straight up to 
the man, he said: "Did you know that you were on other 
men's property here?" 

"Well, the boys said so, but I thought they were clever 
boys, and I'd work here." 

"Well, sir," said Grey, putting his hand on his pistol, "Out 
of that hole, quick." 

And he got out quick, beyond a question. He began to 
think he had probably worked long enough by the side of 
the "clever boys." After apologizing and giving a very 
pitiable experience, Grey said: 

"Well, now; I'll tell you just what I had proposed to do, 
simply to say 'Get out' once, and if you didn't do it to blow 
your brains out; and I should have done it, and you'd have 
been a dead man if you had hesitated a moment." 

"But now," said Grey, "work away; you are welcome, 
under the circumstances, to all you can get. I'm ready to 
share my last dollar with a man that's in want, but I can't 
stand the grab game at all, at all. I'd rather give a man a 
hundred dollars than to have him try to cheat me out of a 
shilling, any time." 

This is a fair sample of the way they managed such 
matters in the mines, though the transgressor did not al- 
ways escape so fortunately. When a man was arrested for 



GOLDEN GATE. 65 

stealing, or anything of that sort, a jury of twelve men be- 
ing selected, they would take their seats on the logs or the 
ground, listen to the case and pronounce their judgment, oc- 
cupying sometimes ten minutes and sometimes possibly half 
an hour, when the verdict would be acted upon without de- 
lay. A common penalty was to shave one-half of the head, 
give the offender a few vigorous lashes, and bid him leave 
the diggings and never return, under penalty of death. The 
peculiar situation of things necessitated this summary kind 
of action, as it afterwards gave rise to the vigilance commit- 
tee in San Francisco for a time. 

It was quite common in the mines to be aroused at mid- 
night or later by the discharge of firearms. Some party, 
perhaps late into camp, or startled by a bear or wolf try- 
ing to steal some miner's breakfast, or possibly some one ex- 
cited over the gaming stand, would fire off a pistol, which 
would be followed by another, and this by another, and so 
on, till for a mile around it would sound like a regular battle, 
and in quick, sharp succession, the flash of rifle and revolver 
would gleam through the darkness, when after a little, quiet 
would again prevail, and the whole camp, just now ablaze 
and noisy with arms, would once more hold in peaceful 
slumber its weary inhabitants. 

Some rude chaps one day dressed up a Digger Indian, 
who, having taken just enough fire water to make him feel 
nicely, went marching along through the principal street of 
the town; a tall, muscular fellow, his whole outfit consisting 
of a pair of shoes, a red shirt and a white, bell-top hat — a 
somewhat enlarged pattern of the Uncle- Sam style. Straight 
as an arrow he made his way from end of the village to the 
—5 



66 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

other, attracting store and shop hands on every side, and 
making himself the most observed of all observers. It was 
a comical sight, and contributed forcibly to our gastric needs, 
as loud peals of laughter indicated. 

The high water of the mountain streams had subsided, 
and we were off for new developments on the river Yuba. 
We bought a span of mules and a horse, laid in provisions 
for the summer, got together what tools we needed, and 
packed them up to our new mountain home, selling the old 
claim that was yielding us such good returns for three hun- 
dred dollars, the buyers taking out that amount the first day. 
In getting to the Yuba, our way was over immense ranges 
which made common mountains look like little hills. The 
grizzly bears that were sometimes seen, the prairie wolves 
that would howl about the camp at night as if all bedlam 
was let loose, the swift antelope and the nimble deer, the im- 
mense trees three hundred feet high, furnishing material in 
a single trunk for twenty saw logs from three to six feet in 
diameter, the ten-mile stretch of snow from fifteen to twenty 
feet in depth, which had to be passed over in the month of 
May, and the large fields of white lilies, growing so high 
that they could be seen a long distance away, and easily 
picked on horseback, all had a novelty about them, to say 
the least. 

At one time, losing my way while plodding along through 
the woods in a well-beaten trail, just as the sun was setting, 
who should approach but a tall, bareheaded, barefooted In- 
dian, his weapon being a long, sword-like knife, and his 
salutation the peculiar "ugh," as he kept vigorously on his 
way. 



GOLDEN GATE. 67 

An Indian camp not far ahead was suspected ; but no, in 
about half an hour the river was reached, and a company of 
miners found, who had come in the day before. Sharing 
their hospitality that night, drinking tea from one of their 
tin cups, sleeping on the ground under one of their blankets, 
the next morning, after breakfast, my march was again taken 
up, with a view of striking the river fifteen miles below, but 
owing to some deep canons, needing to take a round-about 
course for it. About noon, meeting two men, and asking 
them if they could tell me the direction to the "snow tent," 
a point on the way to Concord Bar, the place of destination, 
"Yes," they said, "but you're going right away from it; fol- 
low us, and we'll lead you to the very spot." " You're lost," 
said one of them, "but I defy all creation to lose me." 

But, notwithstanding, in less than twenty minutes it ap- 
peared that we had all turned about, and were following our 
steps backwards. As I saw this and protested, they gave a 
scornful laugh, till at last the young man that all creation 
couldn't lose suddenly halted, and said: "I remember pass- 
ing over this log, sure. Well, it's the first time I ever got 
lost." 

It was the middle of the afternoon, and which trail of the 
almost endless number that looked to every point of the com- 
pass was the right one, no one knew. In looking about to 
see if there was any familiar mark near that would serve as 
a guide, another lost party was found. If misery loves com- 
pany, the supply was ample, for here we were, nine men, 
and all wishing to go past the "snow tent," but not knowing 
which path to take. As the matches were being sought, 
with the thought of starting a fire and camping there that 



68 GLEANINGS BY THE WAV. 

night, a cry was heard: "Hello, hello! I've found it, I've 
found it!" 

Some one recognized a peculiar tree which he had noticed 
before, and the march was again taken up, the "snow tent" 
reached, and Concord Bar found just before dark, two days' 
travel having been made, at least eighty miles, in what should 
have been done in forty miles. 

Soon after this, disposing of my mining interests, and tak- 
ing one of the mules, I started for Sacramento. On reach- 
ing the city, my custom of sleeping out of doors so long 
produced a decided aversion to the thought of taking quar- 
ters in a small room with a dozen men or more, the best 
accommodations to be had, and so lodgings were chosen on 
a partially-finished haystack, on the edge of the town, where 
a comfortable night was had, with plenty of good oxygen to 
sweeten sleep and recuperate exhausted nature. 

At another time, while coming through the woods, it was 
a most joyful surprise to the lone traveler to receive three 
letters from the postman, who had been to San Francisco for 
the mail. Slipping them into my pocket, and starting on 
my way, as one letter was opened it was found to be a year 
old. As another was opened, that, too, bore the date of 
twelve months ago. The third one was tried with no better 
results. 

Well, they were from home. They contained news and 
brought joy to the reader. They had journeyed to Valpa- 
raiso, South America, were forwarded to San Francisco, and 
brought up to the mines, wearing out a whole year before 
reaching me. The postage, forty cents a letter from the 
States to San Francisco, and two dollars from there to the 



GOLDEN GATE. 69 

mines, seven dollars and twenty cents for the three, was a 
good round price, to be sure, but never was money for any- 
thing more cheerfully paid. 



CHAPTER VI. — OLD MEXICO. 

The Corn Cracker and the Fox — Elective Affinities — Lashed to the Deck 

— Burial at Sea — Land, ho! — Old Mexico — First Night — Death of 
the Doctor — Cholera — Sabbath Halt — Robbers — Hanging Man — 
Lasso Cavaliers — Pumpkin Raft — Mills' Horse — Halls of Monte- 
zuma — Pockets Picked — Mexican Churches — General Scott's Road 

— Fancy Mule. 

Again on the deep, bound for old Mexico. The first day 
a dispute arose between two men, one a down-easter, as he 
was called, a man from Maine, and the other a Kentuckian, 
a dispute on the everlasting question which, after so much 
excitement and blood, is hardly yet fully settled. The " Corn 
Cracker" threatened to whip the "Fox," pulling off his coat 
and showing fight, because the "peculiar institution" was 
assailed by the "Mudsill Yankee," as he was pleased to call 
him. 

A hundred and thirty passengers, from almost all portions 
of the land, constituted the company. They were mostly 
strangers to each other until this time. But they soon be- 
came acquainted touching the general outlines of character as 
exhibited in the mode of speech, look, ordinary bearing, and 
the like, and in a few days as many as a dozen knots of men 
grouped together in different places could be seen, each one 
suiting his taste in choosing his associates. This feature was 
noticeable from day to day. It was the great delight of some 
of these men to boast of their villainies — what smart lies 
they had told by which they cheated some one, what fights 



OLD MEXICO. 71 

they got into, how drunk they were, and what they did while 
intoxicated. They gloried in their shame. It was a sad 
comment on the depravity of man when left to himself. 

Two of this company were terribly profane. For curiosity, 
I attempted to take down their words one day, and in a con- 
versation of just fifteen minutes, there were seventy-seven 
oaths of the most blasphemous character, while tbe appella- 
tions of "devil," "damn," "hell," and the like, were so fre- 
quent that my pencil could not move fast enough to enumer- 
ate them. Such was the general conversation of two men, 
representatives of multitudes in the world, spending then- 
lives cursing their maker and calling on God to damn them. 

But another storm was encountered, a reminder of Cape 
Horn, the memory of which could not be fully obliterated. 
At night it was so warm that we made the cabin deck our 
resting place, lashing ourselves down to keep from rolling 
off, sleeping some, and waking some, as we rocked upon the 
rough waves. 

After this there was a burial at sea of a man who six 
hours before was on deck, walking about, somewhat ill, but 
not alarmingly so. At five o'clock in the morning he was a 
corpse. At eight o'clock he was laid out upon a wide, long 
plank, with some bricks at his feet as weights for sinking the 
body, now in readiness for burial. A few short religious ser- 
vices, and the plank was raised to the top of the bulwarks, 
gently tipped on end, and the remains of poor Rice sunk to 
their watery grave. In less than a week there was another, 
once a Wall street broker, in New York city, but left to die 
friendless and alone, to be buried far at sea. 

Such is life — fearful, grand, joyful, sad! 



72 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

In a few days after this, the glad sound came from mast 
head, "Land, ho!" It was the bay of Acapulco. The green 
grass and cocoanut trees lining the shore presented a pleasant 
greeting. Two steamers were lying at anchor, and several 
sail vessels. It was cheering to go ashore once more, and a 
pleasant change to spend a day or two in that genuine old 
Mexican city, with its low houses of adobe walls and tiled 
roofs. 

Consulting the American consul with reference to the 
overland route of six hundred miles through Mexico, " The 
country," he said, "is infested with robbers, and the way is 
dangerous, but you can go through. Arm well, show a bold 
front, and go ahead." 

About forty passengers, accordingly, divided up into small 
parties of eight or ten each, so as to get better accommoda- 
tions on the way, and started. 

The first night out, before getting into camp, a most fear- 
ful thunder storm, so peculiar to that country, necessitated a 
sudden halt. The rain poured down in torrents, and all the 
upper regions belched forth their hot thunderbolts. Peal on 
peal and flash on flash was the order of the night. It seemed 
as if the whole globe would rend asunder, and the sulphur- 
ous streams and tongues and chains of fire take vengeance on 
the inhabitants. It was terrific. The only thing to do was 
to tie up our animals and remain as passively as possible till 
daylight. 

Early the next morning, on reaching a small village, while 
breakfast was preparing, our coats, vests, blankets, and other 
wet clothes in abundance, were spread out to dry in the warm 
sun, and after replenishing the inner man with a good supply 



OLD MEXICO. 73 

of chickens, chocolate, eggs and tortillas, our route was con- 
tinued, and the journey shortened fifty miles that day. 

The third day, and our physician died with the cholera. 
He was a dissipated young man, and bad whiskey killed him, 
using cholera as its weapon. A sickness of three hours, and 
the vital spark went out, and all that remained of poor Wells 
was left to rest in the soil of the ancient Montezumas. 

Every day revealed more and more cholera. No place 
was free from it. In one town of ten thousand people, twelve 
hundred had died in two weeks. 

When the first Saturday night came, the question arose, 
"How about to-morrow?" 

"Let's go on," said one and another, "and rest at Old 
Mexico." 

"No," was the answer; "let's rest here till Monday." 

Six agreed to remain. Two demurred, and went on, the 
dreams of the night giving them no better purpose. They 
were told that they missed it, but they thought not, and on 
they went. The rest of us spent the day quietly, resting 
ourselves and our beasts of burden. 

In the evening we went with our landlord to witness a 
religious ceremony among the natives. Nearly or quite the 
whole town was assembled. They formed themselves into 
a procession, the men having guns and sky rockets, and the 
women lighted candles and mirrors, wreaths of flowers and 
bows of silk. The children brought up the rear, and they 
made a line nearly half a mile in length, and as they began 
their march a gun was fired. A few moments, and a sky 
rocket was sent up. Presently they broke out into singing. 
Then they halted and knelt, and a priest offered prayer, and 



74 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

was not forgetful of the benighted Americanos who were 

present. 

As the prayer ended, they started again. Another gun 
was fired, and several rockets went hissing into the air. In 
this manner, after marching half a mile or so, they returned, 
and the religious rite was ended. 

Now for a good, social time! The bottle was passed 
around and they all partook, soon became merry, dancing the 
fandango, gathering in groups to play cards, smoke, drink, 
and have a good time generally, as they seemed to think. 

Our landlord being asked the meaning of all this, said, 
that the cholera had been raging all about them. Every 
settlement for miles around had been afflicted, hundreds had 
died, but their town had fortunately escaped, and they had 
taken this way to express their gratitude to God ! 

But what of the two men who left on the Sabbath? 

Well, they lost their way, killed one of their mules, worth 
$100, lay out in the cold all one night, went without anything 
to eat for twenty-four hours, and reached the city of Mex- 
ico one day after those who rested on the Sabbath, fully per- 
suaded tnat they missed it, as they had been told. 

A day or two before reaching the city, seven men sprang 
up from ambush as we quietly rode along, and shouted out, 
"Your money! your money!" As quick as a flash some one 
said, "Robbers! robbers!" and out came a dozen good re- 
volvers. As these bandits saw this they quailed, and said 
they were not after our money — they were government 
officials, and must see and sign the passports of all who 
traveled that way. Seeing these, they claimed that the law 
forbade the carrying of arms through the country, and if 



OLD MEXICO. 75 

these were surrendered it would be all right. To this every 
one most emphatically objected, and assured them that, a 
single insult more and they would learn the virtue of the 
little war dogs that confronted them. Understanding by 
this time that they had evidently encountered their match, 
as they gathered together to consult over the situation of 
things, we moved on, soon leaving them out of sight. No 
one was killed and no one robbed, thanks to providence and 
pistols. The only safe way to travel in that country in those 
days was, to remember the motto of old Cromwell, "Trust 
in God and keep your powder dry." 

The next day we passed a man hanging by the neck to the 
limb of a tree by the roadside. We afterwards found that he 
was a robber, who had been shot by the police and left there 
as a warning to others. 

While passing through the timber, attention was frequently 
called to men skulking and dodging from tree to tree, peek- 
ing out to see who we were, and how armed. 

As the route lay through a straight, smooth road one day, 
five men on high-fed steeds were noticed coming rapidly for- 
ward. All of a sudden they stopped, dismounted, tightened 
their saddle girths, fixed their pistols, arranged their lassos, 
and started forward, riding five abreast. They approached 
at full speed within a few rods of us, and finding that a 
warm reception threatened them, they took a trail leading 
into the brush, and were off in short order. Savage country, 
that, surely, and no wonder that such a people should be con- 
tinually involved in broils. 

Camping one night at a large river, we asked the natives 
if there was any way of getting over. 



76 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

"Oh, yes," they said, "we have a boat; we'll take you 
over." 

In the morning, going down to the river, two men were 
observed coming from a little cluster of bushes with their 
boat, as they called it. Was there ever such another! It 
was a simple raft, ten feet by fifteen or so, made of reeds 
and large pumpkins. 

Was it possible to get over on that? 

"Oh, yes, we take people over every day, almost," they 
said. 

It was that or nothing, and so two of us at a time, with 
saddles and bridles, went aboard, and two of the natives, 
stripping themselves, went in, one on either side, and hold- 
ing on by one hand and paddling with the other, went across. 
The boat that was first seen on the beach had become quite 
stylish — a double side-wheel. 

"Isn't this 'some pumpkins?'" said John, as the raft floated 
down with the current and landed half a mile below, on the 
other side. 

Shouldering their reeds and pumpkins, and carrying them 
up about half a mile above where they wished to land on the 
other side, they plunged in again, and went back for another 
installment. Two by two, in this novel way, the river was 
crossed, when these natives drove in the animals, and hooting 
and yelling, swam them over. After paying them a good 
round price for this perilous ride, these boatmen returned, 
and we went forward. 

In a few days another stream had to be crossed. Each 
man, perched well up on the neck of his animal to keep out 
of the water as much as possible, dashed in and went through. 



OLD MEXICO. 77 

It was a little hazardous, but the Lord's angels helped, and 
we were all safely landed on the other side. Here friend 
Mills' horse stopped, and absolutely refused to take another 
step. No whipping, or coaxing, or boosting, would do any 
good. The beast was tired out, to tell the truth, and lucky 
for his rider that he didn't stop in the middle of the stream, 
rather than where he did. Stripping off saddle and bridle, 
and leaving the used-up nag, poor Mills footed it into town, 
twelve miles, when he bought another animal, and went for- 
ward the next day. 

After reaching the city of Mexico, and resting a little, 
some of the lions of the ancient town claimed attention. To 
roam for a brief day in the halls of the Montezumas, was 
worth the while. The entrance to the place was a gateway, 
guarded by two soldiers. Observing the crowds passing in, 
and following suit, all of a sudden the drawn sabres of three 
armed dignitaries caused a ver} r hasty retreat of the Ameri- 
canos. 

"What does this mean?" was the audible exclamation, as 
a quick halt was made. 

We soon observed that every one touched his hat to these 
government officials as he went in. So taking a little circuit 
about the neighboring square, as the place of entrance was 
approached the second time, a low bow and a broad wave of 
the hand in the direction of the wide-rimmed sombrero, was 
sufficient. "Pass right in," they seemed to say, and in a mo- 
ment we found ourselves within the inclosures of those won- 
derful buildings, which have borne witness to such strange 
sights amid the revolutions of bygone years. 

While visiting the museum, one man had his pockets 



7§ GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

picked by a set of rough fellows, whom he knew to he fol- 
lowing him up, but fortunately lost nothing but a red ban- 
danna, a pair of gloves, and a small coil of wrapping twine. 

The next attraction was a grand cathedral, said to contain 
millions of dollars' worth of gold, in statues and ornaments, 
and figures of the apostles and heroes of war. After this, 
at the invitation of the American minister, we visited a church 
of great magnificence, and rich in gold trimmings and figures 
of various devices. 

"It would be just as well to have your pistols along," re- 
marked this distinguished official on starting. " I never carry 
such things myself, but I like well enough to have them 
around." 

We followed his advice, though no one doubted that he 
was probably the best armed of any in the party, for every 
man carried his pistol in that country as much as he wore his 
hat. 

Leaving this ancient town, our route for three hundred 
miles was over the road through which General Scott marched 
his army during the Mexican War. 

Mazatlan, Chilpanzinga, Cuernavuca, Puebla and Jalapa, 
all had their objects of interest, and all called for a hasty 
looking over. 

But how strange it seemed to meet daily from six to a dozen 
stage coaches, each coach drawn by seven span of mules, and 
guarded by six cavaliers, heavily bearded and spurred, and 
almost literally covered over with weapons — a brace of re- 
volvers, a rifle, and an arrow-headed spear extending up from 
one of the stirrups. 

My faithful animal for six hundred miles was a cream- 






OLD MEXICO. 79 

colored mule, a real racker, going with ease fifty miles a day, 
and with little fatigue to the rider, such was her gait. She 
was the only animal of the whole number, excepting one 
horse, that endured the journey without giving out, all the 
rest of the party having their second, two of them their 
third, and one his fourth. Could I have got the little beauty 
home, she would have had the fondest care till called to go 
where all good mules go; but forty bright silver dollars in 
hand, and she became the property of another man. 



CHAPTER VII.— ON THE GULF OF MEXICO. 

On the Gulf of Mexico — Moonlight Sharking — Bay of Campeachy — Sport 
with the Porpoises — Steamer, ahoy! — Up the Mississippi — Sharpers 
— Home Surprise. 

In crossing the Gulf of Mexico, some fifteen shipmates, to- 
gether with the crew, constituted the company. Two days 
out and a dead calm held the vessel, which in twenty-four 
hours had drifted back just one mile. Not a breath of wind 
was stirring, and the deck was so warm as to almost burn 
one's feet while walking across it in thin slippers. The per- 
spiration trickled down our faces, and dripped from our noses 
in little streams. 

As the sun was setting one day, the clouds were in such a 
position as to cause the rays of light in the water to appear 
like red balls of fire. There were over forty of them, and 
they looked very real. 

By the light of the moon, some one harpooned a large 
shark, and all hands rushed forward to participate in the 
sport. Even the captain's wife seized the great wet rope to 
help haul him on deck. But he was an unwilling captive. 
He caught the handle of the lance in his mouth, and swung 
it about with great violence, at the same time whipping the 
deck with his tail at a furious rate. A few blows with a 
handspike over his nose quieted him, and with an ax his head 
was soon chopped off, though he was wonderfully tenacious 
of life. One man took the jaws, another the back bone, 



ON THE GULF OF MEXICO. Si 

another a portion of the rough hide, and thus he was dis- 
tributed around. Two little pilot fishes, said to he constant 
attendants of the shark, adhered to his sides so closely as to 
be drawn aboard with him. 

In just nineteen days we made land again — the city of 
Campeachy. Being short of provisions, the captain entered 
the harbor, inquired the regulations of the port, and found, as 
the cholera had prevailed so extensively along the coast, a 
quarantine of forty days must be observed before we could 
land — rather poor encouragement for a company of hungry 
men, with their faces homeward, and eager to end their strife 
with the winds and the waves. After passing the night with 
such a prospect, the captain set out for the shore, was met by 
the harbor master, who received his message, and in a few 
hours returned with a quantity of provisions, and we were 
soon under way once more. 

The next day was the great day of sport with the por- 
poises. One was hit with the lance, when he jumped several 
feet into the air, and was off at full speed, leaping every few 
seconds entirely out of the water, with the blood spurting 
from his wounds. 

Presently another was hit, and just as he was being hauled 
upon the forecastle, he slipped from the iron barb and fell 
back into the water with a deep wound to show his comrades. 
A few moments, and another school appeared, and a third 
one was hit and raised a few feet, when the rope parted, and 
he swam off with the lance sticking in his back. It was quite 
an eventful day with the sea hogs. 

On the thirteenth day land was again made — a point called 
Raccoon Paw, extending into the sea, about three hundred 
— 6 



62 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

miles from Mobile. The anchor was quickly cast, and the 
captain soon boarded a light vessel in quest of provisions, of 
which the ship was again short. Not succeeding, a small 
boat was rigged with sails and sent ashore, about twelve 
miles, in search of supplies. Soon after this a steamer 
from Galveston was seen in the distance, and answering the 
signal of distress, she came to the relief of the brig's passen- 
gers, took us on board, and in a day or two landed us in New 
Orleans, where we bade farewell to the sea. 

Our trip up the Mississippi river to Cincinnati consumed 
ten days. With good state rooms, elegant dining room and 
saloon, the best of living, and plenty of good reading and 
company, the charges were only twelve dollars, the cheapest 
kind of boarding, with sumptuous fare, and a thousand miles 
of travel thrown in. 

The first night, one of the company, a young man from 
Brooklyn, N. Y., got into conversation with two men of fine 
address, and very curious to learn something about California. 
They were especially interested in the gambling operations 
of that country. 

"What did you call the name of that game so much played 
there?" said one; "never heard of it before." 

The captain was interested in giving them a little instruc- 
tion on this important subject, and they led him on, so curious 
to learn, so charmed with his descriptions, till they gathered 
around a table, when the captain said, " This is the style of it," 
and he began to shuffle the cards and deal them out, 1o give 
them a practical demonstration of how to do it. They were 
delighted. At first they didn't exactly see into it, but they 
learned pretty fast, and before nine o'clock were hard at it. 



ON THE GULF OF MEXICO. S3 

To add to the excitement they put down fifty cents apiece ; 
then a dollar, and so on. Of course the captain, understand- 
ing it so much better than they did, had the decided advan- 
tage, but they were willing to lose a few dollars for the sake 
of learning the game. The next morning the captain, on 
being quizzed, owned with a little chagrin that he lost $75 
by the chaps. They were old hands at the business. It was 
their trade; just what they were there for. After playing 
this kind of a game till they were pretty thoroughly found 
out, they would get off at the next stopping place, and per- 
haps in half an hour would take another boat that might 
come along and practice the same thing upon another set of 
greenies. Thus they traveled up and down the river, having 
a good harvest in this way during the entire season of navi- 
gation. 

Reaching Cincinnati, and hastily visiting the big lions of 
that city, by another boat to Pittsburg, and by rail to Balti- 
more and New York, it was found that a little more than 
thirty thousand miles had helped feed the shuttle of the last 
nine hundred and fourteen days. As the last three months 
had borne no tidings of the way to friends at home, they were 
beginning to say, "He must have been shipwrecked, or have 
perished in some other way." 

On being told of Mexican guerrillas, and the cholera, and 
short supplies on shipboard, and crossing rivers on pumpkin 
rafts, and other kindred perils, the response was, "If we had 
known all that, we should have known you were dead." 

But God heard those daily prayers at home, and what 
power could prevail against them ? 



PART SECOND — PIONEER MISSIONS. 



CHAPTER I. 

To the Sunny Southwest — Little Whittler — Ainsworth Brothers — Doing 
Pastoral Work — An Ex-Slaveholder — Lover of Flowers — Our Hired 
House — Freedmen — Caste — Identification Wanted. 

When the war ended, the Southwest seemed to call for 
missionary work as never before. Thither we went. The 
first Sabbath service was held in the court house, and a small 
but appreciative audience was gathered. 

When the sermon was about half through, a little fellow 
on the front seat becoming uneasy, the father pulled out a 
pine stick and a jack knife, and the boy sat and whittled 
away as quietly as could be, piling up quite a little heap of 
shavings at his feet. It was a novel way of stilling children 
at church, but very effective, as the parents knew, and hence 
had come prepared. 

In this field were two brothers, wide awake, full of the 
genuine Western spirit and New England blood, as zealous 
for the moral well being of the community as they were for 
prosperity in business. Always ready for every good word 
and work, one of them was the Sabbath school superintend- 
ent, leader of the choir, organist, and manager of the finan- 
cial affairs of the society; cheerful, hearty, social, gaining the 



86 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

esteem and commanding the respect of all who knew him. 
After closing up his business for the day, he would some- 
times start out to do pastoral work, as he called it. Know- 
ino- about what time different families were in the habit of 
retiring for the night, he would gauge his calls accordingly. 
He usually reached our house about nine o'clock, as we were 
generally up till ten, and leaving us he would go to the col- 
onel's, for they never went to bed, he used to say, till eleven, 
and after this he would make the miller a visit, for he kept 
up his grinding till twelve, when he would go home and re- 
tire, to be up again at five in the morning — four hours' sleep 
seeming to be sufficient for his mercurial temperament. It 
was almost a means of grace to shake hands with him, or to 
hear him laugh so freely and heartily. 

One member of the congregation had been a slaveholder, 
and mistrusting how the thing would turn, just as the war 
broke out, he slipped his slaves down into Kentucky and sold 
them for a good, round price, changed his politics, and com- 
ing back an avowed abolitionist, got himself nominated for 
office and served in the State Legislature several years. He 
was very kind to us, and uniformly at church on the Sab- 
bath. 

"I never did like slavery," he said, "but being born and 
brought up in it, I knew no other way." 

There might have been some truth in this, with a large 
mixture of human nature, which prompted him to sell his 
slaves and pocket the money, before he repudiated the sys- 
tem too severely. 

The people soon bought a small church, which had for- 
merly been used by the Southern Methodists. When they 



PIONEER MISSIONS. S7 

made the purchase, on the backs of the seats were posted in 
large capitals, " No smoking allowed here." Chewing and 
snuffing were supposed to be admissible at all times and in 
all places. 

But we soon revolutionized things, and with nicely papered 
walls, new and painted seats, a modern pulpit, matting in the 
aisles and a good organ, we had a comfortable place of wor- 
ship. A stranger from the Atlantic coast looking in upon 
us, would have said: "I'm back in New England." In fact 
there was more intelligence and culture in the congregation 
than churches of twice that number can ordinarily boast. It 
is often thus at the front, and the more remote the point, the 
more likely is it to be thus. 

One of the deacons of this church, a warm-hearted man, 
at the close of every service, used to march straight to the 
pulpit, and sometimes into it to shake hands with me. He 
never failed. It was his way, and a good one, of bidding 
the preacher God speed. It seemed to be as natural to him 
as it proved to be helpful to me. Would that every church 
had such a deacon. 

Another man, a great lover of flowers, always brought to 
church a beautiful bouquet and placed it on the table in front 
of the pulpit. If he chanced to be late, as he sometimes did, 
it made no difference, he never took his seat till he had fixed 
his bouquet. 

Our dwelling house we rented of an ex-slaveholder, who 
received five times the rent he got before slavery was 
abolished; and so the day after election, on meeting him, I 
took special pains to congratulate him on the overwhelming 
defeat of his party, "Because it will increase the value of 



S8 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

your property so much," I said, "as it is now with the rent 
of your house, for example." He knew that such was the 
fact, but it made no difference; slavery was too precious to 
be givtn up for any such consideration. He submitted only 
because he must submit. 

It was interesting to see how the freed men appreciated 
their school privileges — eager to learn, from the little chil- 
dren to the grandparents. At a Sabbath school gathering 
one Sabbath afternoon, several aged men spoke, showing 
that they were men of no inferior endowments, but for 
seventy years the wheel had gone over them, and they were 
just permitted to see the dawn of a brighter day to their race. 

"My f adder," said one, "was my ole massa, and he used to 
say he was gwine to make suffin' ob me. So one day, when 
I'se about free year ole, a man what bought niggers he corned 
along, and he talked my fadder an awful long spell, and jist 
no time dis nigger was behind dat ole trader on his hoss, and 
dat's de last time dis chile seed my fadder. Well, he alius 
said he's gwine to make suffin' ob me, and I reckon he did, 
sure 'nuff ; he make 'bout free hunder dollah." 

In one of the schools? was a young girl about sixteen years 
of age, so nearly white that not one in a hundred would have 
supposed that she was other than pure Caucasian, but the 
least taint of negro blood in her veins was an everlasting ban 
upon her. And where was the help? Thank God, the ac- 
cursed institution is overthrown! 

Having occasion, while in this church, to visit Leaven- 
worth, and being short of money before returning, but 
fortunately having a check in my pocket, the first natural 
suggestion was to get it cashed at the bank, if possible. Ap- 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 89 

proaching the counter, and handing it to the man, with the 
inquiry, "Can you cash this for me?" he replied: 

"Can you identify yourself?" 

"No, sir; I'm a stranger here. 

"Can't take it," was the short reply. 

Passing into another bank, as the same question was asked, 
the man took the check, read it very carefully, and asked : 

"Can you identify yourself ?" 

"I cannot; I'm a stranger here." 

" Can't take it," was the only satisfaction given, as he 
passed the paper back. 

What shall I do? How shall I get home? Well, there's 
another bank ; I'll try there. 

"Can you cash this for me?" I said, as I passed the check 
to one of the men. He looked at the paper, and then at me, 
and then at the paper again, and finally said: 

" Can you identify yourself ? " 

" I cannot." 

" Can't take it," was all the consolation I got. 

"But what shall I do?" I still said. "I'll try once more." 
So entering the fourth bank, with the feeling, "there's noth- 
ing like perseverance," I walked up to the counter as if it 
was the first trial I had made, presented the check, and said: 

"Can you cash this for me?" 

He looked at it, and out came the same old question, now 
for the fourth time, at four different banks: 

"Can you identify yourself ?" 

"No, sir; I'm a stranger here; live at ; have been 

down to Kansas City, and find I haven't money enough to 
<ret home with." 



0)0 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

He studied my countenance for half a minute, and said: 
"I'll take it. I don't very often do such a thing, hut I'll 

run the risk this time." 

He counted out the money, and quick relief was felt. 

What good spirit prompted him, while his three neighbors 

were so relentless! 



CHAPTER II. 

The Land of the Dakotas — Pleasant Greetings — Brule Valley— The Trio 
— Fire Fiend — Pillar to Post — Stormy Night — Results — (aught in a 
Whirlpool — God's Voice — Grand Jury — Santee Agency — Important 
Changes — Indian Chiefs — Cain's Wife — Marked Advances — Frost- 
bitten — Tragic Tumble — Free Pass — Magnificent Farm House — 
Translated Hat — Race with a Tin Pail. 

From the Southwest our way lay to the Northwest, the 
land of the Dakotas. Here we found that a pioneer home 
missionary needed to be endowed with great versatility of 
talents. "Jack at all trades," should be his motto. He 
should know everything, and be able to do almost every- 
thing: to speak with eloquence on a great variety of sub- 
jects at a moment's notice; discourse fluently on political 
economy; write learnedly on the deep scientific problems of 
the day; treat abstract theological doctrines, which nobody 
understands, in the most lucid and satisfactory manner; and 
lecture on temperance, education, foreign travel, and divers 
other topics, as different from these as these are different 
from the ordinary teachings of the schools. He should also 
have a quick eye and a sharp ear to all the interests of the 
parish; should be able to lead in organizing the church, and 
Sabbath school, and mission bands; to devise proper enter- 
tainments for the young people, to keep them from question- 
able amusements; to find the best site for the church building; 
see to the laying of the foundation of the holy temple, and 
the placing of the topmost stone, with the shoutings of 



92 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

"Grace, grace unto it!" Besides this, he should know how 
to make for himself an abode, doing with his own hands, it 
may be, much of the manual labor. 

And then the collaterals: digging wells, making cisterns, 
mending broken wagons, dilapidated harnesses, building fires 
in halls of worship, lighting lamps, and sweeping floors, are 
things with which he must be familiar. More than this: he 
must not only be able to cast out devils, but to raise the dead, 
so to speak, in creating a religious sentiment in a community 
where utter indifference prevails. 

He must attempt, in short, a thousand impossibilities which 
he knows he cannot do for want of means, but which he 
tries, nevertheless, as though they were as easy of accom- 
plishment as they are needful and imperative, in order to a 
tolerable kind of success in his work. 

Sympathizing friends said: "What a pity he's come out 
here to die!" But the Lord had other plans. The first 
church organized was forty-five miles from the capital, our 
home. Here we procured a hall, fitted it up nicely with 
seats, soon got an organ, started a Sabbath school, obtained 
a library, and everything for a time was in a high degree of 
prosperity. One of the business men of the place, a member 
of the church, paid $100 a year, and others did all they could. 
At the close of one morning service a young man intro- 
duced himself, and said he was glad to see that in this new 
country the people were planting churches, as well as break- 
ing the prairie and setting out trees. 
"Do you live here?" I asked. 
"Yes, sir." 
" How long?" 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 93 

"Since yesterday afternoon; just in from Ohio; am stop- 
ping at the public house; should be glad to have you take 
dinner with me. I like to be with ministers, and I want to 
help them as far as I can, in my poor way." 

He was from this time my best friend. His house was my 
stopping place whenever I was there for a service, and he 
and his wife both united with the church, his wife playing 
the organ, which was brought from her home every Sabbath 
morning. 

About four years after this he was taken with the typhoid 
fever, and in a little more than a month was called to the 
heavenly home. At the request of his wife, an obituary no- 
tice was sent to the Advance, and a few days after this, she 
was called to follow her husband. God had given them a 
bright little boy, who soon afterwards joined them. They 
were all happy and hopeful in their humble home on the 
Vermillion, but the Master wished them to be with Him in 
their glorious home on high. 

But soon the call from a new town, seven miles below, 
was, " Come over and preach for us." My host was a young 
man, living by himself, and just opening a farm in the broad 
and beautiful valley of the Brule. He gave me his bed at 
night, and himself took the floor. Here another church was 
organized, and supplied in connection with the first one. 

But still a third call was heard, from a point fifteen miles 
above, and here, too, the good work was begun. 

There was now a grand trio, and for a year my work was 
to cultivate these fields, requiring me to ride a hundred miles 
a week, preach three times on the Sabbath — once a day at 
each of these places — besides attending Sabbath schools, and 



94 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

occasionally putting in a sermon elsewhere between services. 
But the fire fiend came one night and took away everything 
at the first point. A new place had to be hunted; yet noth- 
ing daunted, the little band of pilgrims persevered, till this 
place and a second one were turned over to another man. 

At the third point it was difficult to find a place which 
could be rented for meetings. By the courtesy of the Epis- 
copalians, our church was organized in their little chapel. 

Then we went to the old school house, rickety and tum- 
bling down ; from there into a hall, untidy, and with no 
attractions; from there into the back part of this place, the 
other part being needed for offices; and from there, as this 
place was now wanted for merchandise, into a miserable 
shell in an out-of-the-way place, void of all attractions and 
all comforts; and from there to a worse shell than this one 
even; and from there into a dry goods store, finding a place 
in the large open space between the counters, where we ar- 
ranged our seats and organ, turning the former out doors 
during the week, and carrying the organ into an adjoining 
room. This we kept for more than six months. How sadly 
we needed a house of worship to begin with. It is always 
so. How would it be for the banker, the merchant, the law- 
yer, the soldier,, the tailor, the grocer, the plumber, an J other 
artizans and men and women of business ,to operate in this 
manner! Preposterous! Any more so than in the case of 
a missionary? Not a particle. A house for the Lord and a 
home for the missionary are needed simultaneously, and both 
to begin with, unless we would change all the laws of nature 
and try to make things go contrary to the great eternal rule of 
God. It's lack of economy. It's wasteful to have it otherwise. 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 95 

Having preached in the morning, at one time, it was nec- 
essary to ride thirty miles in the afternoon to meet an ap- 
pointment in the evening, and after getting my horse taken 
care of, and myself tidied up for the meeting, a fearful thun- 
der storm came up. But after going to the hall and waiting 
a few moments, a young man came in, a stranger, though I 
had seen him in the streets before this, but who he was or 
where he came from I did not know. 

"Good evening. A stormy night. Hardly think we shall 
have a meeting to-night." 

As I sat talking with him another young man came. It 
was still raining, and about as dark as could be. Presently 
a third young man made his appearance, and then a fourth. 
They came one by one, and two by two, till a goodly num- 
ber had gathered, all young men, and not a professing Chris- 
tian among them. 

"We'll have our meeting," I said. "Shall we be able to 
sing? I'll read a hymn, and we'll do the best we can. If 
any one can start, please do so." 

We all looked at each other, all arose together, and all 
started together. We were all choristers that night. We 
all sang in the same manner, three times, as if we had our 
usual choir, instrument and regular congregation; and I iried 
to preach as if there had been a hundred, instead of a baker's 
dozen. When the service was about half through, the rain 
beat in at the window so that there were two streams of 
water running across the floor, and at the close of the meet- 
ing I had to borrow a pair of rubber boots to trudge through 
the mud to my stopping place. 

But the results of the meeting were good. One young 



96 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

man said, " I'm going to quit drinking," and for more than 
six months was a constant attendant at church, when there 
was a service. But better, still. The first young man who 
came that night waited at the close of the service, and said, 
"I've been thinking, some time, that I ought to lead a differ- 
ent life, and I'm now determined to try. I want to be a 
Christian. I was brought up a Methodist, but I wish to 
unite with the Congregational church. What steps shall I 
taker" I told him what to do. At the next communion he 
united, was baptized, and became an active member and a 
teacher in the Sabbath school. And when his wife came a 
few weeks afterwards, she too united, and they brought their 
little boy and put upon him the seal of the covenant of God 
who said, "If ye be Christ's then are ye Abraham's seed and 
heirs according to the promise." 

This young man afterwards became Hon. Joseph Masofi, 
and while in the legislature acted an honorable part, one of 
the shrewd politicians saying, "I can do nothing with Mason. 
He's a man who can't be bought or bullied. He always does 
just what he thinks to be right, irrespective of fear or favor." 

About two yeai's after this, he was drowned in the Mis- 
souri river, being caught in an eddy and unable to extricate 
himself. His body was never found, and when I heard that 
God had called him from the little Vermillion band to the 
innumerable company of the redeemed in His immediate 
presence, how quickly I thought of the time when I first 
came to know him on that memorable occasion in the hall. 

Some time after this, my attention was called to a stranger, 
and it was whispered that he used to be a member of a church 
in the East, and yet he never came to meeting. I called to 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 97 

see him. Yes, he was a member of a city church in Iowa, 
and had been superintendent of a Sabbath school. He had a 
brother who was a Congregational minister, as was his wife's 
father. "I'm coming to church," he said; " expected to have 
been there before this." But still he did not come. While 
I wondered and mused, the fire burned. God spake to me. 
I felt sure that I understood it all. The reason he kept from 
church was, that he hadn't suitable clothing, and the next 
time I went down, I took a second-hand suit — a full rig — 
which had been sent in a missionary box, and as I was cross- 
ing the street, whom should I meet but this very man. 

" Is it because you haven't suitable clothing that you don't 
attend church," I asked. 

" That's it, exactly," he said. « It took about all I had to 
get here and I have been unfortunate in my business, and one 
thing and another have hindered me." 

"Will you accept of these," I replied, as I handed out the 
bundle which I felt sure the Lord had led kind Eastern friends 
to send, that I might deliver them to this very man for whom 
the Lord intended them. He carried them into the house, 
threw them into the lap of his wife, and as she opened the 
bundle she exclaimed, "Where did they come from?" 

On being told, she said, "Now I know that God hears 
prayer, for I have been praying for this very thing since last 
Monday night. God has heard, and this is the answer." She 
was not a professor of religion at that time, but she soon 
united with the church, her husband brought his letter, her 
daughter came by profession, and they were constant attend- 
ants at God's house from that time onward. 

Being summoned to sit on the grand jury, with the clergy- 

—7 



9S GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

man's privilege of serving or not, I concluded to serve, and 
among other cases brought before the jury were two, charg- 
ing certain Sioux Indians with the murder of some Poncas. 
When the red skins appeared in court, they were decked out 
in full Indian costume, with painted faces, with feathers in 
their hair signifying how many foes they had slain in battle, 
with their hands and arms variously striped, with their breasts 
tattooed; with wristlets, ear and finger rings on; with buck- 
skin moccasins, tunics and pants curiously embroidered with 
beads, set off with ample fringe; with carved pipe, of red 
stone, bearing the device of a snake's head, or some such 
creature; with bow and quiver of arrows, and the invariable 
tomahawk of bright steel, and helve inlaid with silver. 
Their stories were given by an interpreter, sworn, as they all 
were, to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the 
truth. A verdict for murder was the least that the evidence 
would admit, and yet by some pettifogging among the law- 
yers, they were set at liberty, and the next day were seen 
about the streets, ready, perhaps, to join some Sitting Bull, or 
scalp some victim, or send one of those very arrows or that 
very tomahawk to the heart or the brain of some other Ponca. 

One of the meetings of the General Association of the 
churches was held thirty miles above Yankton, at the Santee 
Agency, on the Nebraska side, giving an opportunity of see- 
ing the effects of the Gospel upon the Indian, under the effi- 
cient superintendency of the missionary in charge. 

A comfortable house of worship was found, a church with 
a membership of over a hundred persons, and a large congre- 
gation on the Sabbath. 

The preacher, Artemas Ehenemani, formerly renowned as 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 99 

a most famous hunter in all that region, was an Indian, tall 
and straight, and hy the earnestness with which he spoke, he 
evidently sent the arrow of divine truth to the heart of his 
hearers with as certain aim as he once pierced the heart of the 
elk or the antelope with the missile that went quivering from 
his bow. The young man Eli Abraham, who played the or- 
gan with more skill than many an organist of a Yankee church 
a hundred years old could boast, was an Indian. The hun- 
dreds of men and women who stood up to sing with such 
earnestness and devotion were Indians. 

The man who responded to the call of the preacher, in a 
most fervent prayer at the close of the sermon, was an In- 
dian. 

Those parents who walked up the aisle, and presented to 
God their little child in the ordinance of baptism, were In- 
dians. 

Just above the church a little way stood the Dakota Home, 
where the young men were taught in the various departments 
of a higher civilization, under the faithful oversight of the 
missionaries. Since then important changes have been made 
at the station. Additional helpers have been secured, a boys' 
school, with a large and commodious house, has been built, 
connected with which are departments for instructing the 
boys in different useful handicrafts. 

While going up the Missouri river to organize a church in 
a town that had grown up, mushroom-like, attention was 
called at one point to eight or ten Indian chiefs, who were 
waiting for a boat to come along and take them on their way 
to Washington, to arrange with reference to the right of way 
for railroads through their land to the Black Hills. There 



IOO GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

were the great Spotted Tail, and Red Cloud, and Standing 
Bear, and Man -Afraid -of -his -Horses, and several others 
with equally poetic names. 

They were dressed up in great style, with beads, paint, 
feathers, and all the fixings, and were armed with toma- 
hawks, bows and arrows, and two or three of them had 
some of the more civilized weapons of warfare — the re- 
volver and bowie knife. They seemed glad of the excuse to 
go to Washington to see the "Great Father," as they called 
the President. While they were said to be in favor of grant- 
ing the right of way to the Hills, they expected, of course, 
pretty good pay; but then Uncle Sam would look out that 
they didn't cheat him very badly. 

One of the missionaries was telling, about this time, that 
he was overtaken by an Indian who was going to a certain 
point, and as he was on foot and the Indian had a team, he 
rode with him. After camping for dinner and eating their 
lunch, as they were taking their nooning the noble red man 
said to the missionary, "Now talk to me; tell me about Je- 
sus." 

So, having discoursed to his supposed meek and humble 
pupil for some time, the man finally burst out, "Well, where 
did Cain get his wife, any how?" the same old question and 
others like it, that white skeptics and cavilers are so ready 
to use, showing that depravity in the blood of the red man 
is like that in the white. The same Gospel is needed for 
both, and is wonderfully adapted to every class of sinners. 

All along up the river for hundreds of miles mission sta- 
tions had been established, and great changes produced in 
the habits of these children of the forest. The ordinary 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 101 

tepee had been changed for the comfortable, snug log house. 
The white man's dress had been adopted largely. The 
blanket, feathers and joaint had been discarded. The long 
locks had been shorn, and indications of civilization every- 
where abounded. 

And are we told that the red man cannot be Christianized 
and saved as well as any people who for long ages have been 
left in similar degradation, when such are the effects of the Gos- . 
pel upon the savage Sioux, one of the most warlike of the tribes ? 

While riding over the prairie one cold winter day, my 
face, fingers and toes were nipped by the frost, though I 
worked like a hero clapping and stamping and whipping 
about my arms to prevent the cruel intruder. 

The same enemy afterwards assailed one of my feet, and 
I was under the care of the doctor for a month, spent several 
sleepless nights, applied to the unfortunate member over a 
hundred poultices, and submitted to three incisions from the 
lancet. Beginning to mend, I hobbled about with a crutch, 
after a little advanced to a cane, and when able to dispense 
with both wore a laced boot for a time, and limped about for 
more than six weeks. To make good the proverb that ca- 
lamities never come singly, about this time, as I got up in 
the middle of the night to close the window against the rain, 
mistaking the hall door through which I supposed I was 
passing, down I went, rolling like a log to the bottom of a 
long flight of stairs, and fearfully bruising and straining the 
physical man, so that limping and halting for several weeks 
were very marked; and after more than a decade the pain 
still remains as a reminder of that sad ride and ridiculous 
tumble. 



102 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

In some of the stage rides that had to be taken, I was 
often out nearly all night, when the going was bad and the 
roads were breaking up in the spring. On several occasions, 
at the time of deep water, the passengers had to take a boat 
for a mile or so, while the horses would haul the coach 
through to a higher point, and we would change back to the 
coach again. It was almost equal to going on foot and car- 
rying a rail with which to pry out the mud-bound vehicle. 
But such happenings, though quite common, were borne as 
meekly as possible. 

In crossing a broad prairie on one trip, and losing my way, 
after wandering about for several hours, at length a magnifi- 
cent building seemed to loom up in the distance. It looked 
like a farm house, and I made for it with all possible haste. 
But on reaching the stately mansion, it had dwindled down 
to a little cluster of tall weeds and grass, no larger than a 
good-sized rose bush in many a village garden. There is 
something about the atmosphere of the prairie that wonder- 
fully magnifies objects at a distance, and as one approaches 
what seems to be a towering castle, he finds nothing, per- 
haps, but a little, low sod house — the grand palace proving 
to be but a clump of sunflowers or a little bunch of blue 
joint, and the grove that looked like the cedars of Lebanon, 
to be a little cluster of trees about the size of ordinary bean 
poles, giving new but provoking significance to the term, 
" Distance lends enchantment." After wandering about like 
a sailor upon the great deep, the road was fortunately found, 
and late in the evening the place of destination was reached. 

On one occasion my hat went sailing away under a breath 
from the master of the caves, and came down I know not 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 1 03 

when or where. The dim light of the moon rendered the 
scene less laughable than one that occurred a little later: as 
our tin pail went scudding over the prarie like a thing of 
life. As some one had stepped out of the door for water, 
the wind took it and away it went, when two young men 
started for it on the full run. Watching from the window, 
we could see it bounding up over some little hillock, now in 
sight, now out of sight, now in sight again, and so on, for 
half a mile or more, going with the speed of a race horse, 
till finally it disappeared from view altogether. The pursu- 
ers made good time, but the pail eclipsed them two to one; 
and after a vigorous chase they owned up beaten, and re- 
turned to the house, while the pail took refuge against a wire 
fence, where it was subsequently found, pretty well battered 
up, but still capable of several races like this, if furnished 
with the same propelling power. 






CHAPTER III. 

The Angel of the Lord — Blizzards — Keeping Cool — Funeral Notice — 
Taken for a Stage Driver — Caught in the Dark — Lost on the Prairie 
— In the Old Barracks — Receiving New Members — -Last Town West- 
ward — Sioux Indians — Church Gathered — Tin Horn — Destroyer — 
Up the Vermillion. 

Passing over an obscure road, in the fall of the year, just 
at twilight, four men on horseback suddenly surprised me. 

They were drawn up a few rods from the road, as if ready 
for an encounter, and as soon as I had passed they started to- 
wards me with a regular dash. Getting abreast of my team, 
they gave me a sharp look, and then suddenly darted off at 
right angles on to the prairie several rods distant, when they 
turned squarely about, and walked their horses deliberately 
back to the place where I first saw them. It was a strange 
movement, but if they intended plunder, the angel of the 
Lord certainly prevented them. Perhaps he suggested that 
there was not enough connected with my rig to render it 
worth while. At all events, I escaped with the feeling, 
"The Lord interposed." 

After this, while returning from an appointment on the 
line of the railroad, I was blocked up by the snow, in the 
latter part of April. It was a second-class blizzard, let down 
into the lap of spring. As good fortune would have it, the 
train chanced to stop near a claim shanty, which, for a still 
greater wonder, was supplied with an abundance of eggs and 
other edibles, from the comparatively newly-opened farm. 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 105 

Most of the men were able to reach the house, and after 
replenishing themselves with the necessaries of life they re- 
turned to the car, carrying supplies to the ladies, and we soon 
settled down for the night. The wind blew with intense 
fury, and the snow filled the air and drifted in before the 
iron horse in huge heaps and with defiant aspect. 

In the morning, the god of the caves seemed to let out his 
forces with still more fury, and again we besieged the little 
farm house in quest of breakfast. About ten o'clock, as 
there seemed to be no abatement of the storm, I determined 
to start on foot, being anxious to see home. Unable to per- 
suade any one to accompany me, I went alone. After going 
about a mile I overtook the train of the previous day, which 
had spent two nights in its present snow-bound position. 

Passing in at the rear door and going through the car, I 
again tried to find some one to go with me, but no one would 
venture. They were all anxious to get home, and several 
were almost persuaded to go, but their hearts failed them. 
Had I known as much of Dakota storms as T afterwards 
learned, I should hardly have run the risk. As it was, [ 
pushed forward, and reached Yankton about two o'clock in 
the afternoon. Here I found General Custer's cavalry camp, 
stationed just outside of the city, on their reconnoitering tour 
to the Black Hills, broken up by the severity of the storm, 
and driven into the houses. 

On the crusted snow, now reaching nearly to the tops of 
the fences, I took a bee line as nearly as possible for my 
house, two miles distant. Reaching home about the middle 
of the afternoon, everything was found to be all right, 
though the hen house, pig pen, cow stable and wood pile 



106 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

were completely covered up by the snow, and a huge pile, 
ten feet high and more than fifty feet in length, greeted me 
at the front door. 

The fierce rays of old Sol for many a day to come, and 
considerable hard work with the shovel, only sufficed to make 
passable entrance ways to bovine and rookery departments, 
to say nothing of the pile of green cottonwood, which had to 
be dug out, stick by stick, and was not particularly helped in 
its igneous tendencies after such a binding up in icy fetters. 

The cars did not reach Yankton till the next day, one train 
being two, and the other three days, in making a distance of 
thirteen miles. 

While on my way to a regular appointment some time 
after this, in the summer, I stopped to attend a Sabbath 
school at a rural place, and give the children a little talk. 
When the superintendent came, he was dressed in as nearly 
the primitive style as propriety would allow — barefooted, 
and without coat, vest or collar, for it was a hot day, and 
difficult to keep cool, whatever the precautions. 

At another time, having been called to attend a funeral, as 
it was known that ] needed to return the same day, the fol- 
lowing invitation was sent out through the town: 

"Yourself and family are invited to attend the funeral 
of , at the church, at two o'clock sharp" 

A decided smack of the frontier, but well intended. 

Stopping to water my horse one rather cool day, being 
rigged up in my buffalo overcoat, and not having very much of 
a ministerial look just at that time, a man drove up, and said: 

" Is this the stage ? Are you the stage driver ? " 

"No, I don't have the honor of representing that pro- 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 1 07 

fession; it's an honorable calling, when honorably followed, 
though I don't belong to it." 

It was not surprising, however, that I should have been 
taken for a stage driver, and if the man had called me a 
Kamtchatkan, from the north pole, it would not have come 
much amiss of the mark, so far as my looks were concerned. 

On another evening, when returning from one of those 
weekly hundred-mile trips, the sky suddenly darkened, and 
in a few moments it was like blackest night. Getting out to 
feel my way, not satisfied as to whether I was in the road or 
not, and judging from appearances that my team was lost also, 
I finally stopped, unharnessed my ponies, lied them to the 
wheels of the wagon, pulled out my buffalo robe, and making 
a pillow of my satchel, laid down to sleep and wait for morning. 
As the day broke and I awoke, lo and behold, I was about a rod 
from the road, and a minute's ride from my own house! 

While on my way after this to Sioux Falls — the Niagara 
of that part of the country — having planned to take Canton 
on the way, and being accompanied for a rarity by two ladies 
and gentlemen, while crossing over the prairie to shorten the 
distance a little, we all got lost, and were like castaway mari- 
ners, at sea without chart or compass. Not a house or tree 
or anything to guide us was in sight. We went, and went, 
and went, in hope of soon reaching the road, but no indica- 
tions of a road appeared. It was finally thought best to fol- 
low our tracks back, and spend another night and the Sab- 
bath where we spent the night before, the ladies sleeping in 
a small house and the men in a stable with the horses. Hav- 
ing turned about to go, we saw at the farthest visible point 
a team. The counsel then was to let two of the men get 



Io8 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

out and hold the track and the ladies and myself make for 
the team, and if we got any information to return for them, 
but if we did not, to return and pursue the first plan. And 
away we went at full speed for about five miles, gained on 
the team a little, and still pressed forward. 

When within motioning distance, I got up on the seat, 
pulled off my hat and beckoned them to stop ; but they stood 
up, pulled of their hats and beckoned back in the same way, 
keeping on their course as before. At length we got near 
enough to be seen beckoning with the hand, but they did not 
slack their pace in the least. Still we gained on them, till 
we got near enough to be understood, and on learning that 
we were lost and wanted to inquire the way, they burst out 
laughing, and said they supposed their pursuers were officers 
from the city in search of parties hunting stray Texan cattle 
owned by men in other parts of the country, so claimed, but 
by the hunters said to belong to nobody in particular; and as 
that was their business they had answered us as they did. 

Hurrying back after the men left behind, and then retrac- 
ing the way with all due haste, we reached Canton about 
ten o'clock in the evening, and had our meeting the next 
morning, according to the appointment. 

In the afternoon we drove to Sioux Falls, forded the river 
just at night, going into the water pretty well up to the buggy 
box, and called on Dr. Phillips to see about the meeting for 
the evening, notice of which had been sent ahead a few days 
before. But the notice failed to reach them, and no meeting 
was expected. 

"Still," said the doctor, "I guess we can give pretty gen- 
eral notice now." 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 1 09 

And dispatching a boy or two and starting himself, soon 
every house was informed; and in less than an hour a good 
congregation was gathered in one of the buildings formerly 
used as barracks for the soldiers, kept there to look after the 
Indians, a few years before. 

At that time there were only two professing Christians in 
the place, one a Congregational and the other a Methodist 
lady. Soon after this all the churches were duly repre- 
sented, trying as best they could to hold the place, destined 
at no distant day to be a large and prosperous city. 

A few months following this trip up the Big Sioux Val- 
ley, it was my privilege to receive to the same church and 
the Lord's supper ten new members, while they had no min- 
ister, but were keeping up reading meetings and maintain- 
ing prayer circles among themselves. After a while the 
Lord sent them a man, and they built a church and paid for 
it without asking aid from the church building society. Still 
later, and I had the pleasure of helping them in a revival of 
religion. 

But previous to this a church was organized at the last 
town westward. The first sermon was in the first house 
that was built, then a house used for a United States land 
office. Hardly another house was in sight, and where the 
people were coming from the preacher did not know, but 
they soon began to pour in from the little claim shanties, 
coming on foot and on horseback, and with their ox teams, 
till a good congregation was gathered, and the house was 
christened with a sermon instead of a ball, as they had at 
first planned. The ground was fairly pre-empted, and right- 
fully belonged to the occupants. 



1IO GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

While on my way to this field, as I overtook a company 
of Indians, with their ponies and wagon, one of them rigged 
up in full military suit, with epaulets and cap, and coat with 
brass buttons, and boots with steel spurs, all doubtless ob- 
tained from some fort above ; and another one, the driver, 
looking as if he had just come from the wilds of Indian re- 
treat, with his bare arms and legs and head, a tall feather in 
his massy matted hair, signifying that he had killed his foe 
and was now a real brave, two or three knives in the belt 
about the waist, a large horse pistol dangling at his side, it 
did look a little pioneer like. 

The next Sabbath, however, the church was gathered to- 
gether, and a project for building a house of worship started 
at once, and nearly a thousand dollars subscribed in less than 
twenty-four hours — the recent Governor of the Territory 
pledging a hundred dollars and offering a good lot. The fol- 
lowing Sabbath a choir was organized, an organ borrowed, 
and a better place than the vest-pocket-like school house se- 
cured for our services, and we were very hopeful. The tin 
man made a large tin horn, which was used in lieu of a bell, for 
calling together the tribes of our Israel up to the Lord's house 
on God's day. It was difficult to keep down the risibles the 
next Sabbath morning, when the choir all unwittingly sung, as 
their own selection, the hymn, "Blow ye the trumpet, blow!" 
The ground was fairly broken, and foundation stones were 
drawn for the contemplated church, when, fearful to tell, the 
sun was darkened by the destroying armies of grasshoppers, 
as they came in countless battalions, pouring through the land 
like a mighty tide of death, and eating up every green thing. 
Large, beautiful fields of wheat and luxurious corn were 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 1 1 1 

quickly destroyed, the field of carnage being a thousand miles 
square. Of course the church building was at an end for the 
time being, and the main question of the people was, "How 
shall we get enough to eat and clothe ourselves till another 
harvest shall be gathered ? " 

Thirty miles up the Vermillion Valley, where a young man 
wishing to go into the stock business had penetrated, with 
the thought that he would have free range for forty years at 
least, I was called to help organize a church within a year 
after he took his claim there, two hundred buildings being 
in sight where only one existed when he went there. 

Soon after this, fifteen and thirty miles below, other 
churches were organized. Owing to a lack of laborers for 
these broad fields, and other adverse influences for the time, 
the first church started had petty well run down, there being 
but one resident member left; but not wishing to give up 
here, the friends were called together, and in less than a year 
the church with one member had grown to thirty, with a 
pleasant hired chapel, a good organ, a flourishing Sabbath 
school, a live prayer meeting, and a congregation that would 
compare favorably with the average congregations of fifty 
times the age in the Eastern States. Numerous scripture 
mottoes, in varied well-cut letters from moss-green paper, 
were made to break the monotony of the walls and act as a 
perpetual preacher of the word. 

"Bring an offering and come into His courts." 
"Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together." 
"A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one 
another." 



CHAPTER IV. 

Home Missionary Campaign — Cordial Welcome — Going West — "How- 
Large a Town is Dakota?" — Commendable Interest — What's a Dug- 
out? — A Dialogue — Noble Example — Old Faneuil Hall — Centennial 
Exhibition — Montana Man — The Capitol Building — Other Visits — 
Moody and Sankey — Theological War Horse. 

In answer to a call from headquarters, in company with 
the ever efficient superintendent of our work, Rev. Franklin 
B. Doe, then in Wisconsin, now of Missouri, a three months' 
experimental home missionary campaign was made through 
the Old Bay State, and in church, college, seminary chapel, 
at prayer circles, conferences, Sabbath school gatherings, 
missionary and inquiry meetings, many addresses were made. 
The effort was so satisfactory that similar endeavors, by dif- 
ferent persons, have been made nearly every year since. 

A hearty response was everywhere given us. Venerable 
men in the ministry, with silvery locks and radiant faces, as 
if they were living on the mount, and young men, full of 
hope and ardor, practically said: "You're welcome; glad to 
see you; glad to hear a living missionary from one of the 
outposts of the great home field." 

"Your account of those regions reminds me of a story told 
by my father when he lived in Maine, years ago," said a 
professor of Williams College, while we were passing out 
of the chapel, where the students had gathered for a little 
missionary meeting. "One of the enterprising young men 
of the neighborhood was going West — going to the frontier 



PIONEER MISSIONS. I 1 3 

town of Lowell, Massachusetts. It elicited much interest 
among his friends. It furnished conversation for a good 
while, and not a little fear was expressed for his safety be- 
cause of hostile tribes, so far out on the borders of civiliza- 
tion. It was an incident like many which afterwards fur- 
nished such thrilling accounts of the early settlement of 
western New York, when the pioneer had to cut his way 
through the thick forest to reach with a team the site of his 
homestead, so remote from friends left behind, that he never 
expected to see them again till he should meet them in Im- 
manuel's country. It seemed to them a great way off, as it 
afterwards seemed to some of their children when Ohio was 
the terminus of emigration, and Illinois, and Iowa, and Wis- 
consin, and Michigan, were all a howling wilderness, fit only 
for the prowling savage, as he hunted the bear and buffalo in 
those trackless wastes." 

"Are you just from the West?" inquired one man, to whom 
I was introduced as hailing from Dakota. 

"A few weeks since." 

"Well, how are times out there?" 

"About the same as here." 

"How long have you lived in the West?" 

"Between eight and nine years." 

"Did I understand that you are from Dakota?" 

"Yes, sir." 

"Let me see. How large a town is Dakota?" 

"How large? About three times as large as all New Eng- 
land; nineteen times as large as Massachusetts; nearly equal 
to New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware com- 
bined; large enough, sir, to make more than half a million 



114 CLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

farms of 160 acres each; large enough to hold all the people 
in the United States, and still be no more thickly populated 
than England and Wales are; large enough to put a belt 
around the world six miles wide." 

"Well, well, well," was the exclamation; "really, what a 
big country this is!" 

But others had more correct ideas of our domain, and the 
grandeur of the missionary work. 

" Were it not for these gray locks and feeble steps, we'd 
be with you," responded several aged men. 

"Insure a support, and we'd go in a moment," said several 
young men. 

"Times are dull; no dividends this year; but we've kept 
up our benevolent contributions as heretofore; wish the 
times were better, that we might do more; it's a glorious 
work," and the like, were the greetings of numerous busi- 
ness men. 

The question was sometimes asked, "What's a dugout, or 
a sod house?" The former as known by all Westerners is an 
excavation in some bank of earth or hillside, with a rough win- 
dow or door in front, the stovepipe sticking out through a 
hole in the top; and the latter as walls of sod, thatched over 
with grass or covered with dirt, often the only castle of the 
early settler, and occasionally the best habitation that the 
missionary can get, as he begins to lay the foundations of 
the Lord's house. 

Said an aged veteran, a man of large wealth and learning, 
at the close of an enthusiastic meeting one day: 

"The home missionary work, my dear sir, is indeed the 
grandest work of the century, and a work especially dele- 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 1 1 5 

gated to this nation, if, as we all believe, we are to be the 
chief agent in lifting up degraded humanity at home and 
abroad. But," he continued, "are there not too many 
churches in the new towns of the West — often half a 
dozen, where there should be but one?" 

" It's a sad fact, and a great hindrance to the missionary 
cause — worse, perhaps, than infidelity, intemperance, and the 
whole brood of evils that generally prevail in new towns." 

" But is there no remedy for all this r " 

"Well, I have my views about it. What do you say?" 

"I say, that wise counsel, and a true Christian spirit among 
the leaders, could devise some plan of comity which would 
concentrate the moral power of frontier communities, bring 
Christians of six or seven denominations to work together 
for the time being in harmony, save money and men, pre- 
vent jealousy and undue rivalry and division, give character 
1o the church, and a better support to the ministry, promote 
Christian liberality and union, which would commend the 
Gospel to the world, whereas it now is often quite otherwise. 
It's time that a Daniel should come to judgment on this 
subject." 

"Amen, and amen, to all this," I replied, expressing a 
belief that " a vote from the Christian people of new Western 
settlements would give nine ballots in favor of such a plan, 
to one against it. The church, as a whole, is waiting for it." 

"Then, surely," he continued, "the attempt should be 
made. But, as the home work is the foundation of the 
foreign, what do you say to combining the two?" he asked. 

" They are essentially one, and go together naturally," I 
replied. 



1 16 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

"That's it," he responded, "and hence my motto is, 'Con- 
solidate; make the work in all departments one work, as 
much as possible; have but one board, one treasury; one 
organ, which shall rival the most popular magazines of 'the 
day, by its general attractiveness, editorial ability and illus- 
trated department, the latter now a necessity almost, but 
especially desirable in the work of missions; interest, by 
some systematic plan of benevolence, the whole membership 
in the one grand work; let it be published a year in advance 
how much of the Lord's money is needed for the year to 
come, and then divide the amount raised between the dif- 
ferent objects of support — education, church building, the 
Christian college, work for the Indian, the Frenchman, 
the African, the Chinaman, the Mexican, the Mormon, the 
Spaniard, the Turk, and so on, in proportion to the import- 
ance of each, with the understanding that every member of 
the church should pay his proportion, according to some 
equitable plan of assessment, and a great deal more money, 
and easier raised, would flow into the Lord's treasury, while 
the interest in missions would be wonderfully increased, and 
the work greatly enlarged." 

"Yes, I believe it; you've spoken my mind exactly. I 
think it could be done, and that God's people, as a whole, 
are waiting for the leaders to systematize a plan somewhat 
as you have suggested." 

But be this as it may, it was cheering to meet men thus 
interested in the missionary work, and especially cheering to 
meet business men so ready to stop and talk on the subject 
— men whose giving was a pleasure, not merely a duty; a 
luxury, not simply an obligation. 



PIONEER MfSSIONS. I 1 7 

It was no less cheering to hear this and that pastor say of 
one and another member: "That man is always giving, and 
the more he gives, the more he seems to have." 

"That one, who always wears the same cheerful look, has 
educated several young men and started them in life." 

" That one, who came around to speak to you, though en- 
gaged in extensive business, keeps the Bible in his counting 
house, and practically says, 'It all belongs to the Lord.'" 

There were many such, who will wear bright crowns in 
the day when the jewels are made up. 

It was a rare treat to be at the great feast, the closing day 
of anniversary week, under the auspices of the Congrega- 
tional Club Old Faneuil Hall was the place of meeting. 
Six or /seven hundred choice spirits were present, as mem- 
bers of the organization or invited guests. Culture, reason, 
wit, music, eloquence and sanctified mirth reigned supreme. 
The repast was tastefully ai-ranged, and, crowned with some 
of the choicest flowers, was sumptuous. 

If the " cradle of liberty " ever witnessed a more important 
gathering, few certainly ever met within her time-honored 
walls with a grander purpose, or with more buoyant hearts. 
Thoughts of the day came trooping up, when the trumpet 
peal shall call the elite of the universe to that feast where all 
the treasures of heaven shall beautify the banquet, and every 
soul swell with supreme delight, and the King all glorious 
be master of ceremonies. 

Making a visit to the Centennial Exhibition, at Philadel- 
phia, while returning homeward, the natural exclamation 
was: Grand, superb, splendid! But a good many super- 
latives piled upon these fail to reach the whole truth. 



I 1 8 GLEANINGS B V THE WA Y. 

Words are inadequate. The eye through which the soul 
of man looks out can only tell it. The magnificent grounds 
of Fairmount Park; the extensive buildings, made up of 
thousands of feet of glass, and more than a million feet of 
tin roofing; the wonderful products of the continent; the 
most useful discoveries and inventions of the century ; the 
finest and costliest fabrics of the world; the choicest speci- 
mens of the different nations there represented; the minerals, 
the sculpture, the painting — in short, the best that the na- 
tions great in age could bring, the accumulated representative 
force gathered up and concentrated, the different subjects of 
the globe, not excepting India and Egypt, all had their les- 
sons of interest and value, as given in this "world school," 
opened to its pupils but once in a lifetime. 

Though making but a brief stay at this wonderful exhibi- 
tion, it gave me an opportunity to pass through every depart- 
ment; to go up onto the roof of the main building; to go 
down into a monitor; to put my head into the big cannon, 
large enough to admit my body; to sit down to rest on one 
of the mammoth shells, that had locked up within its encase- 
ments such elements of destruction and death; to take a cir- 
cuit about the grounds on the narrow-gauge railroad ; to dine 
at one of the famous restaurants; to return to the main build- 
ing; to look, and admire, and wonder, and feel almost be- 
wildered by the bright-flashing diamonds, the glittering 
vases, the hanging chandeliers, the curious workmanship of 
all descriptions and endless variety, the works of genius from 
the most cultured nations of the globe, and the peculiar dis- 
plays of countries but half civilized, and lands to which we 
send the Bible and missionary. 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 119 

But language is too feeble to show it. One must see it to 
know it. 

Leaving this great show, as Washington was reached, and 
the capitol buildings were approached, a young man slowly 
walking along was overtaken, whose greeting was: 

" I suppose that's the capitol building ; never was here be- 
fore, and all is new to me." 

" That's my case," was the reply. 

"Are you a Western man?" he asked. 

"Yes, from Dakota." 

"Oh, well, then we're neighbors; I'm from Montana," he 
said. 

Our homes were only about a thousand miles apart, but as 
we represented different portions of the West, it seemed at 
first thought that we were neighbors, and we passed on to- 
wards the stately pile of marble overlooking the capital city 
and its memorable surroundings. We took off our hats and 
drew a long breath as we reached this great focus of the na- 
tion's legislative power, the gathering place of ambassadors 
from foreign courts, and hosts of visitors from nearly all 
parts of the world. 

Passing through the grand corridors and spacious halls, we 
climbed to the very top of the magnificent dome, and as we 
saw Mount Vernon in the distance, and the turbid waters of 
the Potomac, winding its way along as in the early days of 
the republic, we seemed to hear the echo of war times: "All 
quiet on the Potomac!" 

Retracing our steps to the base of this little American 
pyramid, we went forth to visit other portions of our prop- 
erty as citizens of the great body politic, and pay our respects 



120 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

to our numerous servants in the White House, Treasury De- 
partment, Smithsonian Institute, Patent Office, Senate and 
House of Representatives. The foreman of all these forces 
received us with all due respect and dignity becoming his 
office; but when we looked in on Congress, we were inclined 
to think it might be easier for our chief officer to manage 
armies of soldiers than these dignified, clapping, seething 
crowds of men. To say the least, we were not very favor- 
ably impressed with the disorder that prevailed, as the re- 
peated calls of the men of the gavel implied that they were 
not favorably impressed on their part, and yet, considering 
their work, they were doing as well, perhaps, as could be ex- 
pected, on the whole. 

Under the dispensation of the millenium, it will be some- 
what different. 

Having the good fortune while on this trip to hear Messrs. 
MQody and Sankey, the question naturally arose, " Why 
shouldn't they succeed?" They are humble, sincere, enthu- 
siastic, of good ability, good address, sprightly in speech and 
song, physically strong, quick to discern the best things, prac- 
tical, untrammeled, aided by men of culture, learning and 
piety, and supported by the united moral force of the whole 
community. 

There is wonderful power in good generalship, combined 
Christian action, individual responsibility and humble depend- 
ence on God. 

But would other men succeed under similar circumstances? 
Why not, when the forces for successful moral and religious 
work are all available, if the conditions are met. 

While listening on several occasions to Joseph Cook, who 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 121 

was exciting such interest in Boston and vicinity at that time, 
the feeling was, "He's a regular theological war horse, fierce 
for the fray and bold in battle." 

Decrees, election, sovereignty, atonement, man's constant 
need of help as a sinful being, Christ only meeting this need, 
miracle, prophecy, promise and warning, as revealed in God's 
Word, he represented as more scientific than science itself, 
separated from the supernatural and divine. He seemed to 
shiver to pieces with one fell stroke the false philosophies, 
and infidel theories, and atheistic schemes of men whose 
boasted science proves to be but science defective in the ab- 
sence of that important, but in their plans scouted factor, the 
divine as revealed in scripture. 



CHAPTER V. 

Renewing the Buggy — Perils of Waters — Bloody Raiders — Results of 
the Trip — Just the Religion — Want the Gospel — Kind Hospitality — 
Perils of Mud — Diamonds — Specimens — Insane Man — Oaks from 
Acorns — The Lord's House — Revival — The Hopeless Case — Show- 
ing his Colors — Aged Convert — Honor from the Lord — Live Prayer 
Meeting — Enlarging the Church — Home Heathen — "A What!" He 
Answered — An Atheist's Death — Fatal Plunge — Belle of the Town 
— Healer of Division. 

My missionary buggy had journeyed, in all, equal to a cir- 
cuit around the globe, and began to show signs of a general 
collapse, when help was asked from some of the churches 
addressed in Massachusetts, and a very cordial response was 
given, so that the " missionary chariot," as one said, continued 
to roll on. The contributors, should thtir eyes ever fall on 
these lines, may know that their offerings resulted in good 
missionary work, the full influence of which will only be 
known as it may be revealed to them in the great hereafter. 

On one trip in the fall of the year, the low lands were 
flooded by the rains, and for miles nearly every step was up to 
the horses' girths. At length the Vermillion river was reached, 
and the bridge was gone. Under ordinary circumstances 
there would be no difficulty in fording the stream. It was 
now a little doubtful. For a moment my team hesitated, then 
in they plunged. Deeper and deeper they went at every step, 
till the waters came over their backs. For a few feet they 
seemed almost to swim, when suddenly they began to rise 
up, and soon the opposite bank was reached. They were 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 123 

fairly over, and I drew a long breath of relief and sincere 
thankfulness. 

The next day Turkey creek lay across our pathway. There, 
too, the bridge had been swept away. The embankments 
only were left, and how to get over was a more difficult 
problem than that of the day before. Following the stream 
down a little, an old fording place was found, but both banks 
were steep and the water was very high. 

Being exceedingly anxious to cross, and perhaps a little 
venturesome under the circumstances, the word was given, 
and my team went bravely in, pulling the vehicle behind 
them, till the water left only their heads in sight. Again 
they appeared to swim for a short distance, when suddenly 
they began to ascend the sharp peak that took them up and 
out of the watery cavern, and they were on terra Jir?na once 
more, giving renewed joy at this safety over the swollen 
stream. 

After this I had a severe contest with the flies and mosqui- 
toes. The former stood around my tea cup at the evening 
repast like so many crows around a carcass, and in spite of 
my most earnest endeavors to the contrary zvould tumble 
and plunge into the tea, while others in swarming numbers 
contested every mouthful of food taken. Thus the battle 
went on most vigorously for about ten minutes. The result 
was a hasty retreat, as gallantly made as possible, on my part, 
while the flies took possession of the battle field, reveling in 
high carnival. 

Retiring for the night, the trumpet blasts of a most for- 
midable host of mosquitoes were heard, and very soon the 
savages were felt, too, as they jabbed their spears most un- 



1 24 GLEANINGS B Y THE WA Y. 

mercifully into my head through the thin sheet, which was 
my only defense against their attacks. The night was pretty 
well consumed in boxing and slapping, but whether a single 
enemy fell in the encounter is very doubtful, though there is 
no doubt whatever about my face being pretty well scarred up 
by the villians, and my ears receiving some very vigorous 
cuffs in my attempts to annihilate some of the bloody ruf- 
fians. 

When the morning came, and the announcement was 
made, "Breakfast is ready," there seemed to have come 
from the grand army of flies a reinforcement of several 
million regiments, more or less, and the only escape was an- 
other hasty retreat, after a few desperate attempts to satisfy 
the cravings of hunger. The flies were again left in sole 
possession of the field, and I got out of town in tolerably 
good shape for the Sabbath, notwithstanding my blood- 
thirsty assailants. 

This trip of three hundred miles resulted in the visiting 
and strengthening of several churches at that time without 
preaching, the organization of one new church, and a hearty 
response of those who were consulted to a systematic plan 
for carrying on our work more effectively. 

Halting for a few moments at a new and growing village 
on my way up through a newly opening valley, as a group 
of men gathered around and heard that there was to be 
preaching the next Sabbath at a town a few miles below, 
one of them, acting as the spokesman of the crowd, re- 
marked, with a peculiar twinkle of the eye — owing to their 
general estimate of the denomination noticed — 

"That's the religion for this valley." 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 125 

"Why so?" 

"Well, it doesn't interfere with our drinking, swearing, 
horse racing, card playing, Sabbath-breaking habits and the 
like, at all ; it's just the religion for this valley." 

And with sarcastic look they all chimed in, confirming the 
remark. But they wished me to hold a meeting there, and 
the first speaker very cordially invited me to go to his house 
and spend the night, which I promised to do the first ojopor- 
tunity. Though confessedly wayward and erring, these men 
despised a mere formal religion. 

On reaching the point of destination, it was found that a 
good school house had been built, and the members of the 
little church were very anxious to have regular preaching. 
They were poor, the grasshoppers had destroyed their crops, 
but they would do all they could for the support of the Gos- 
pel. One man would give the use of a good cow for a year, 
another would furnish flour for a family of four, and one, 
who was in the stock business, would give a calf in the 
spring and twenty-five dollars in money. As I bade them 
good bye at the evening Sabbath service, they were all very 
importunate in asking for a minister, and it seemed like a 
field already ripe for the harvest. 

Some time after this, when on a trip to introduce a minis- 
ter to a missionary church, as night came on we brought up 
at a farm house far out on the prairie, a rude structure, with 
kitchen, pantry, bed room, sitting room and parlor all in one. 
"Could we stay over night?" we asked the kind man who met 
us very smilingly at the door and followed us out to the 
road. Well, he would go back and ask his wife, who was 
not very well, and he hardly knew what to say. In a mo- 



126 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

ment he returned, saying, "Drive in; we'll do the best we can 
for you." 

Putting out our team, we went into the house, where was 
the good wife of the honest yeoman with three little chil- 
dren, the eldest three years of age and the youngest seven 
weeks. The three-year-old cared for the baby; now holding 
it in her lap, and looking like one baby holding another ; now 
rocking it in the plain, old-fashioned rocking chair; now tot- 
ing it from the chair to the bunk at the other end of the 
room, handling the little thing as if it were a young pup, 
while the mother flew around and prepared supper — dress- 
ing a chicken and cooking it, making an English cherry pie 
and baking it, bringing out from the oven light hot bread, 
made from the flour after we entered the house. All this 
she did in double-quick time, and we were soon eating with 
a hearty relish. 

As the hour for sleep came on, we committed ourselves to 
the Lord's care for the night, when an humble couch was 
pointed out to us, and after a mutual putting out of the light, 
we retired for the night in one corner of the cabin and the 
family in the other corner; and if all parties were as tired as 
I was, they were soon lost in the realms of Morpheus, to be 
aroused after a little by the barking of dogs, and the howl of 
the coyote, and the patter of the rain on the roof, and by and 
by, the dripping down of water into our faces as it leaked 
through. 

In a trip to the Brule, soon after this, perils of mud of the 
most vicious character were encountered, the compound be- 
ing blue clay mixed with sand, grass and weeds, so that the 
wheels of my buggy soon became one solid mass, and abso- 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 127 

lutely refused to turn. For a number of rods the team drew 
the wagon as a drag weight, the wheels being stationary, as 
if dead-locked. Seeing no relief, and fearing that something 
would break, I stopped, pulled off my overshoes and boots, 
slipped on a pair of rubber boots, and jumped out to take a 
look at my mud-bound vehicle. 

But what could I do? Not a stick, or board, or anything 
of the sort, was in reach, and I felt like a soldier facing the 
foe with no weapons of defense save my own strong arms. 
Well, I thought I would try my foot, and the first assault 
resulted in pulling off one of my boots. And now, after a 
desperate stretch and a lusty tug, being just barely able to 
get hold of the mired boot, I pulled it out, when 1 took a 
step backward, and off came the other boot. Fishing out 
this in like manner, and tossing them both into the buggy, 
my only relief was to use my hands and feet, the latter well 
stockinged, and the former bare and defenseless. Clawing 
and kicking into the mud with all the vigor possible, I got 
off some of the sticky compound after a while, climbed into 
the buggy, changed my socks — chancing to have another 
pair in my satchel — backed up the team a little, in hope of 
rolling off a big lump of clay partly broken, when the two 
inside tugs of the harness unhooked, and I had to plunge 
into the mud again to fasten them, nearly losing my boots a 
second time in the operation. 

Having splashed through about ten miles of partly frozen 
slush, and now covered over with the very quintessence of 
mud, I was a beautiful specimen surely. Never before did I 
get into such a plight. It was horrid, "perfectly awful," as 
some school misses would say. 



128 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

The trip resulted in the organization of a church of twenty 
members, in a township of five hundred people, where seven 
years before there was not a resident within a dozen miles of 
the place. The people were mostly sturdy farmers, turning 
out to meeting and Sabbath school a hundred strong, when- 
ever an opportunity was given. They were good people 
there — real diamonds. 

There are many such in home missionary fields, who need 
only polishing to make them shine with peculiar brightness. 
See that man of splendid physique, with sinews like steel 
and muscles like hempen cord, standing six feet in his stock- 
ings, and gracefully bearing a hundred and eighty pounds 
avoirdupois. He looks like a king. As he rests from his 
farm work while the tea is waiting, or dinner is being brought 
on, the flute or the organ is as much under his control as the 
plow or the reaper which he has just left in the field. He is 
the life of the social circle, and not a child escapes his notice. 
He leads the prayer meeting in the absence of the minister, 
and is the soul of the Sabbath school. Were he in the pop- 
ulous city, he would be foremost there as well. In all justice 
you say, "born to rule." 

That daughter of fifteen can herd and drive cattle almost 
equal to a Texan on his wild mustang. She can mount and 
ride a horse that many a man would feel was more than a 
match for him. See her on that little French roan, that bit 
and reins utterly fail to hold in check. She goes like the 
wind. Just twelve minutes by the watch, and she has taken 
a circuit of three miles, remarking as she dismounts, "It was 
one of the best rides that I ever had." The next moment 
she is at the organ, and her deep, rich voice reminds you of 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 129 

some concert singer. She is a queen — the belle of the town 
you would say — to see her at the parish sociable. Fancy 
work in the drawing room, or culinary work in the kitchen, 
alike attest her skill. However rollicking and rough, as the 
city folks might say, are they not diamonds of the first water? 

There are many such far out on the frontier, away on the 
prairie, a dozen miles from the nearest post office, where gen- 
uine lovers of nature may give full play to their emotions, so 
fully in harmony with the spirit that all the forces about 
them inspire. 

While preaching the introductory sermon at a general 
meeting of the churches of one of the fields, as I was just 
getting well under way, an insane man got up to speak. 

" I understand," he said, "that this is a Democratic, Repub- 
lican, Christian convention, and if it is, I have a right to 
speak." 

His neighbors tried to quiet him; but no, he was bound to 
speak. 

"I have come prepared, gentlemen," he said, as he pulled 
out a revolver and a dirk, and threatened violence to any one 
who interfered with him. 

It was a strange interruption. The meeting was broken 
up, and after a little we gathered in a hall near by, and went 
on with the services. The crazy chap and a little cluster of 
men remained, and he spoke to his heart's content. 

The whole number in sympathy with the work in this 
field, counting all of every household, was just forty-three, 
and a pretty good sprinkling of them were babies, but re- 
membering that oaks come from acorns, we concluded to go 
ahead. We had our meetings at first, for want of a better 



130 GLEANINGS BY THE IV AY. 

place, over a wholesale liquor store. Though the sanctuary 
was not very desirable, it was this or nothing. So we organ- 
ized the church, and held our Sabbath school and prayer 
meeting there till the beginning of another year. 

Then the young men, about six in all, just starting in busi- 
ness, said: "We must have a house of worship. If neces- 
sary, we will give all we can earn for a year over our living, 
but a house for the Lord we must have." 

It is hardly necessary to say that, with such a disposition, 
the church was built and paid for. The pews were nearly 
all taken at once, and the congregation was very much in- 
creased. 

At the close of a Sabbath evening service, I ventured to ask 
any who desired the prayers of Christians to signify it. To 
the surprise of every one, a young lady, among the last to be 
expected, arose. A revival followed, resulting in the con- 
version of about sixty persons. A goodly number united 
with the church. 

Among other interesting cases, was that of a young law- 
yer, who had squandered quite a fortune by his reckless life, 
and who was so indifferent to everything good, that he was 
generally regarded as a hopeless case. As he met me one 
day, under somewhat peculiar circumstances, he took his seat 
near me, and almost immediately introduced the subject of 
religion, saying that he had been thinking very seriously of 
late about trying to lead a different life. He requested me 
to call and see him at his home. He soon united with the 
church, and remained a consistent member till he left the 
place. 

Another young man, who had been trying to be a Uni- 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 131 

versalist, became interested, and said: "It isn't right to bring 
up children as we are doing, without any family religion, and 
now I'm going to talk with my wife about it this evening." 
So when the children had retired for the night, he men- 
tioned the subject, with much fear and trembling. To his 
surprise and joy, he found that she had been feeling very 
much as he had. The next morning the family altar was 
set up. And now he asked, "Shall I unite with the church? 
No; I can lead a Christian life without." But the next time 
he opened the Bible his eyes fell on the passage: "Who- 
soever shall be ashamed of me and my words, of him shall 
the Son of Man be ashamed when He cometh in the glory of 
the Father with the holy angels." "Ah," he said, "I've got 
to show my colors." He did so ; his wife came also, and they 
brought their four children, and gave them to the Lord in 
baptism. 

Another interesting case was that of a man eighty years of 
age, who felt that before joining the church in heaven, he 
would like to join on earth. He had expected to be at the 
meeting for the examination of candidates, but was hindered 
by feeble health that day. So just as the Sabbath afternoon 
services were commencing, he came to the church with staff 
in hand, and called me to one side, and with tears in his eyes, 
said: "I want to unite with the rest of them. Can I do so 
at this late hour?" 

"Certainly, certainly; we shall be happy to have you." 

He gave his experience before the congregation, and was 
received. 

It was an affecting sight: an old man, with his locks as 
white as snow, yet a little child in Christian faith and hope. 



1 32 GLEANINGS B \ ' THE 1 1 \l i '. 

He stood up with the children, and young men, and maidens, 
whose hearts had alike been touched with the finger of God's 
love, and publicly professed Christ, who said, "I also will 
confess you." 

In behalf of the young men who took hold of that church 
work with such devotion, it is but fair to say that they all 
succeeded in business, and were soon well to do in the world, 
though at the time of their endeavors to build the Lord's 
house, the finances of the country were in a state of great 
embarrassment, and many of their neighbors had to go into 
bankruptcy. 

"Them that honor me I will honor," said God. If bless- 
ing in basket and store is one way of bestowing such honor, 
they surely were not forgotten. 

There was one marked feature about the prayer meetings 
of that church — the time was all taken up. There was no 
delay, not so much as the reading of a hymn. They were 
familiar with the standard pieces usually sung in such meet- 
ings, and four or five of the brethren were able to start any 
one of a dozen or more hymns, when the rest would easily join 
them. Occasionally a new piece was learned, and the meet- 
ings were largely meetings of prayer, or praise, or invoca- 
tion by means of song, interspersed with brief remarks, each 
brother, so far as time would allow, taking part; the women 
being allowed the same privilege as the men, and no one 
waiting for another in the different exercises. 

"Do you know how many times you sung this evening?" 
asked a friend who was visiting at our house, on one occa- 
sion. 

"I do not. Did you count?" 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 1 33 

"Nine times," she replied; "and it was one of the most 
wide-awake meetings I ever attended.' 1 

The idea was, that singing was worship, and the prayer 
meeting is all for audible worship or conference, excepting 
the few moments that may be spent in united secret prayer. 

After being driven in one field "from pillar to post," in 
search of a place for meetings, the little church at length 
built a house of worship. When they had got so far on their 
way as to see the frame up, imagine their feelings as the next 
morning they saw it leveled to the ground, a heap of splin- 
tered ruins. A fearful wind during the night had blown it 
down. The question had already been asked, "Will it be 
large enough?" Now, as it lay in the dust, the brethren 
said, " Hadn't we better make larger plans?" It was pro- 
posed to add ten feet to the length. Whoever heard of en- 
larging a church as soon as this? And what a fortunate cir- 
cumstance that old yEolus let loose his forces that night, else 
the church would not for a long time have received this 
needed addition. As it was, a better and more commodious 
house was built, which was only sufficient to accommodate 
the stated worshipers. An installed pastor, a popular 
preacher, a Sabbath school of over a hundred members, and 
all the machinery of church organization in good running or- 
der, soon cheered the little band, who began under so many 
adverse influences. 

In one field, a rough-looking man rapped at the door while 
I was at dinner one day, and inquired for the preacher. He 
wanted me to attend the funeral of his grandfather, eight 
miles out, at two o'clock of the same day. 

"Rather short notice," I said; "dinner to finish, sermon to 



i 3 4 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

prepare, a horse to get, two hours' journey to make before 
reaching the place, and all to be done in one hour." 
"Was your grandfather a Christian?" I asked. 
"A what?" he answered. 
"Was he a Christian man?" 

"Well, I rather think he was," he finally said; "he was in 
the Revolutionary War!" 

But when I heard that the old man had died that very day, 
and saw that the sons did not know enough to take off their 
hats at the funeral, I was confirmed in my first impressions 
of heathen at home. 

About this time there died in the same place a downright 
athiest, old in sin, and a grey-headed scoffer. He boasted of 
his infidelity, and when dying clutched his money bags and 
shrieked out the most horrid oaths. He was so brutal that 
his Christian wife had long since ceased to pray for him. 
All the infidels for miles about were at the funeral, expecting 
a shot that might call forth returns, but all personal allusions 
were avoided. 

In another field, the community was startled by the strange 
death of a little boy, but six years of age. He was the young 
America of the town, smart and shrewd beyond his years, the 
friend of every drayman, and stage driver, and grocery man, 
and storekeeper in the place; now holding to the back end 
of the rattling vehicle, as it went through the streets; now 
up on the seat with the driver; now in the store behind the 
counter; now at this end of the town, and now at the other; 
out early in the morning and late at night; bright, cheery, 
and the pet of every one. 

He very deliberately walked down to the mill dam one day, 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 1 35 

and threw himself into the pond. Before he could be res- 
cued, life was gone. The whole town mourned his loss. 
What could have prompted him was among the mysteries. 

In one field, the people were shocked at the death of a 
young lady, who was beautiful, accomplished and wealthy. 
All the fair and aspiring ones cheerfully accorded to her 
the palm. Stealing from her sister's side and sleeping room 
at night, and noiselessly unbolting the door, she hastened to 
the fatal spot, and threw herself into the cold stream, her 
tracks in the light-fallen snow, and the well-known scarf 
dropped on the edge of the ice, plainly revealing the fearful 
tragedy. The verdict, of course, was insanity, but the future 
alone can answer the question, "Why must it be?" 

In still another field, a young physician was taken suddenly 
ill with a very malignant fever, and at his request I went for 
Dr. , a special friend of his, living ten miles away. 

"You're very sick," said the doctor, "and I'll come and see 
you once a day ; but you need some one here of tener than that. 
There are five physicians in town, all good men; choose one, 
that he may run in and see you three or four times a day." 

" Well," was the answer, " if that's the case, I'll choose the 
man across the street. I think he's a good physician, and an 
honest man." 

The point of interest was, that the two men, owing to 
some professional friction, were not on intimate, hardly on 
speaking, terms, with each other. And when the heretofore 
bickering doctors met under such circumstances, there were 
not many dry eyes there for a while. It was a perfect healer 
of the division between the two neighbors, though the poor 
man died, and was followed in a short time by his attendant. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Church Building Collection — Good Investment— Truth Wins its Way — 
Abusing the Tavern Keeper — New Light Obtained— Tongue Loosed 
— A Stigma— Tobacco — Superintendent and Cigar — Reformer Re- 
formed—Moving Sermon — Dogs at Church— The Circus — Grand 
Kampeska Hotel — Grand Central — A Quarrel Settled — Storming the 
Fort. 

While taking up a collection for church building, the 
wealthiest man in the congregation, though not a professor, 
said: 

"I'll give as much as any other person. I have a farm lo- 
cated thus and so; if you'll build a church on that, I'll give 
a lot and two hundred dollars besides. It would increase 
the value of my property so much, that I could well afford 
to do it." 

At this meeting, there happened to be present a young 
man of some means, from an adjoining town, who, having 
contributed quite liberally, remarked to one of his non- 
church-going friends the next morning, as they stood talk- 
ing together and I passed along : 

"Here, young man, you were not at the meeting yester- 
day; you ought to take a little stock in that church-building 
enterprise. Come, now, hand over; it's a good investment, 
I can assure you." 

" I don't know about it," was the answer. " I prefer to 
see the books first, and balance the accounts of outlay and 
gain, before I give." 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 1,37 

"You'll see the books," the other replied, "in the clay of 
reckoning; and if you wish to see them before that time, 
migrate to the Fiji Islands, where you belong, if you are not 
willing to help build churches and support the Gospel." 

During the winter, some of the young men in this field 
had been quite wild, giving undue attention to the gayeties 
of the ball room, and imbibing too freely of the intoxicating 
cup, to the grief of parents and friends, when I felt con- 
strained to speak of these things from the pulpit. It made 
quite a buzzing for a time, but it commended itself to the con- 
sciences of the delinquents, one of them remarking as he 
left the house: 

"It's all true, and he's an honest man in saying so. I re- 
spect him for it, and he'll get five dollars from me that he 
wouldn't have got if he hadn't preached it." 

About this time, one of the trustees was collecting a little 
money on the subscription paper, when he called on one of 
the landlords, and said: 

" Don't you want to help us to-day a little ? " 

"What for? To pay men for abusing tavern keepers?" 

"No; but to pay our minister for preaching against intem- 
perance, and all other evils that bring taxation, and crime, 
and sad hearts in their train; that's what we have a minister 
for. We shouldn't want him if it were not for these things." 

And the man very deliberately pulled out his pocket book 
and handed him five dollars. 

Said a young lady in this field, as she called to talk with 
me one day : 

" I want to unite with the church." 

"Do you think you are a Christian?" 



I3 S GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

"No, I cannot say that." 

"Why, then, do you wish to unite with the church?" 

"I think it would help me, and honor Christ." 

"And still you don't think you are a Christian? How does 
Christ seem to you?" 

" The best being in the universe." 

"How do Christian jDeople seem?" 

"I like them." 

"Better than other people?" 

"A great deal better." 

"How does the Bible seem?" 

"A precious book." 

"Do you read it?" 

"Every day." 

"Do you find comfort in reading it?" 

"Very great." 

"Do you attend the prayer meetings of the church gener- 
ally?" 

"As often as I can." 

"Do you attend because you feel that you must attend, or 
because you like to attend?" 

" Because I like to." 

"And still you have no hope in Christ? Well, now sup- 
pose you are taken suddenly ill, the doctor is called, and he 
says you can't live; your last hour comes, and you die: how 
about your soul? Is it lost, or what?" 

"I think Christ would save me." 

"You think he would?" 

"I'm sure he would." 

"That's your hope, and I'm sure you wouldn't take the 
world for it." 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 1 39 

"Is that it?" she said; and her face fairly shone, as new 
light burst in upon her. 

She united with the church, and was a joyful Christian, 
cherishing the hope which she had, but did not recognize at 
first. 

Here is a different case : 

Miss was secretly hoping in Christ, and as I mis- 
trusted this, and spoke to her about it, she confirmed' my im- 
pressions. 

"Don't you think, then, that you should publicly profess 
Christ, and unite with the church?" 

"I don't know." 

"Will you pray over it? Ask God to tell you. Will you 
do so?" 

"I'll try." 

After a little she said: "I think I should unite with the 
church, and I wish to do so." 

But she expected opposition from friends, in the cruel 
taunt, the cutting jest, and the like. It was the cause of much 
unhappiness to her. But her fears were groundless. She 
was never treated better by those friends, and she became a 
joyful Christian, and by her consistent, happy life, though 
in a retiring way, commended to all about her the cause she 
so much loved. 

There was one young man in this field who always at- 
tended the prayer meetings of the church, but never took 
part in them. He thought he couldn't do it. In his family 
he used a prayer book and read prayers. But by and by 
God sent him to a new town, and the little church where he 
went were in want of a deacon and a Sabbath school super- 



140 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

intendent. There was no escape for him. He had to serve. 
In a little while he was elected mayor of the city, and was 
one of the most prominent men in the whole community. 
His mouth was opened, and after this he had no difficulty in 
getting up in the large meeting and telling what the Lord 
was doing for them in their new field. 

It was very trying to a band of Christian workers that a 
young lawyer and his wife, who had just united with the 
church, should have provoked the very same week the remark 
in shop, and store, and street, and home, "Better dancers now 
than before they became Christians." Instead of going to the 
prayer meeting that night, they went to a wedding of former 
gay companions, where they danced and drank wine, and 
played cards as in other days. And yet they meant no harm ! 
They thought no evil ! But when told of the sneers that were 
banded about on every side, "We're very sorry," they said. 
« We'll do so no more." But what marvel if they forgot their 
promise, for they had all their lives long been educated to the 
gayeties of the card table, the theater and the wine cup. 
They learned, like many of us, very slowly, Paul's lesson of 
expediency, to abstain from things not necessarily wrong, 
but soiled by stigma, and hence forbidden. 

In one field of large promise, the excessive use of tobacco 
by some of the best members of the church seemed harmful 
to the highest interests of society. 

It became a question how to present the subject and not 
give undue offense. I finally concluded to announce my in- 
tentions, and excuse any who did not care to hear. If they 
were fairly warned, and told that they might stay away, they 
could not complain, surely. 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 14 1 

The plan worked well, and they were all present, as I ex- 
pected they would be. The truth stirred their consciences; 
they reformed, and remained for about six months, when they 
all went back to their old habits again. But some years after 
this, as I met one of the most inveterate chewers among them, 
he said, "I haven't touched the weed for more than two 
years, and I have no desire for it." 

"What led you to this?" 

"Well, I remembered your sermon twelve years ago, and 
concluded that I had better put the annual contribution of a 
hundred dollars or so for tobacco into the missionary box." 

He had struggled with this master passion for more than a 
decade, before he gained the victory. What a strong foe to 
hold place in the heart of man ! 

What a thief in the pocket! 

What a robber of benevolent institutions! as our missionary 
treasuries would flow over if all the Lord's stewards should 
turn the incense of the pipe into a holy offering to the Mas- 
ter, who wants more money to carry on His work in the 
world. An attempt was made to establish in the minds of 
some of the country's future servants a wholesome prejudice 
against the weed, and how surprised those youthful learners 
were, as they came running into the house one day, exclaim- 
ing, "We saw the superintendent of our Sabbath school 
smoking a cigar." 

How it tarnished his fair fame, so spotless in their estima- 
tion till this moment, and how it compelled a change of tac- 
tics with reference to their future training! They had to be 
told that good men sometimes do foolish things. But they 
could not understand it, for they didn't see any sort of har- 



H 2 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

mony between a cigar and a Sabbath school superintendent, 
and the good man, it is feared, never held quite so high a 
place in their estimation after this. 

But when a former Sabbath school man, whose fame was 
in all the churches in that region, came to hold a Sabbath 
school convention in that town, he very propeidy took occa- 
sion, at a large union meeting Sabbath afternoon, to upbraid 
the young men for their card playing, theater going, wine 
drinking, and the like, and the next day a complaint was en- 
tered by one, that he had just seen the lion of the meeting, 
who so justly took to task the delinquents the day before, in 
the street, smoking a cigar. 

"And why," he asked, "shouldn't that habit feel the sting 
of the reformer's lash as well ? " 

I told the man, and as the noble-hearted apostle said, "If 
eating meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no meat 
while the world standeth," so he declared, "No young man 
shall ever accuse me of the cigar again." 

There are some fine points of casuistry to be considered in 
the training of children and youth in the practical every-day 
lives of their teachers. 

While preaching for a brother minister, as I chanced to 
allude to a political riot which had just taken place in a dis- 
tant part of the country, it was a little trying to have a well- 
dressed, lady-like-looking woman get up, and very indig- 
nantly walk out, tossing her head in disdain as she went, 
when another followed, and then a third, and a fourth, and a 
fifth, and a sixth, and I realized that I had preached one mov- 
ing sermon, to say the least. 

In another field there seemed to be, from some unexplain- 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 1 43 

able cause, an undue proportion of dogs, and on one occasion 
an eminent doctor of divinity from Boston spending the Sab- 
bath in the place, and preaching for a good brother, stopped 
in the midst of his sermon, and asked the choir to sing one or 
two verses to the tune of Old Hundred, while the deacons 
turned the dogs out, saying, as he did so, "You have the most 
religious dogs here that I ever saw ; they all seem to come to 
meeting." A yelp and a bark, as a few brethren from the 
amen corner administered some vigorous kicks and cuffs, and 
the sermon was resumed. It was a curious episode, but re- 
sulted in keeping some of the canine troublers out of the 
church after this. On the whole it was a good thing, the 
first step of an important reform in the newly-growing town, 
and was well-worth a trip from the modern Athens, whence 
the good doctor hailed. 

It was known that the people had no money to spend upon 
the circus about to carry away from a new town two or three 
thousand dollars, and it seemed best to give warning from 
the text, "Spots they are, and blemishes." 

And when the show day came, and a fire sprung up as the 
result of the exhibition, destroying some twenty thousand 
dollars' worth of property, those who were at first disposed 
to throw stones were now ready to say, " The preacher was 
right, and we'll never vote for another circus." The Lord 
sometimes now, as in the days of Elijah, answers prayer by 
fire and other terrible things in judgment. 

Being anxious to visit a new town at the terminus of a 
raih-oad just beginning to carry passengers, I took one of the 
first regular trains, a long, heavy one, with freight in advance, 
and a passenger car behind. It was too much for the unset- 



1 44 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

tied and but partially finished road, and as we were passing 
over a deep culvert, down we went. The engine jumped 
the bad place, and the passengers, fortunately escaping injury, 
mounted the iron horse, and dashed over the trellis-like 
bridges, and plunged through deep dugouts and over high 
embankments, till we at length reached the projected city. 

We were greeted with the darkness of midnight, because 
of delays, and as we landed upon the ground, for the depot 
was yet only a thing of the future, we were doubtful as to 
the next step, when we saw a man with a little lantern 
approaching. 

"This way for the Grand Kampeska Hotel," he cried out, 
and we were presently ushered into a rough, unfinished 
room, with a few plain benches for seats, and a floor which 
had evidently been made a grand spittoon for the squirting 
of tobacco juice from the filthy mouths of filthy men from 
the first of its occupancy. 

Could a bed be obtained, or rather a coarse tick filled with 
prairie grass, laid in the corner of some room ? 

No, they were all occupied. 

At length a rough, unpainted bedstead was found, and so 
wrapping up in my buffalo robe, I lay down on the soft side of 
some pine slats, and with my valise for a pillow, luxuriated 
in sleep for about two hours, in the Grand Kampeska Hotel. 

Two meetings were held the next day, the Sabbath, when 
the initiatory steps were taken for the organization of a 
church. 

It was past one o'clock at night as we reached the projected 
site of another booming town, on one of the first trains over 
a new railroad. 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 1 45 

"Are there any hotels in this place?" I asked a man as I 
left the car. 

"Oh, yes; good hotels; first class." 

"Which is the best one?" 

"The Grand Central is the best one; a very fine house; 
tip top every way." 

He directed me towards it, and I went in at the front door, 
which was wide open, stumbled over innumerable piles of 
lumber, shingles, lath, work benches, saw horses, and the 
like, till I reached a dim light in a little room adjoining the 
large one through which I had made my way with so much 
difficulty. There was no one about, and no sign of life, so 
far as I could see. I began to thump on the counter, and 
pound on the door, and hello pretty lustily, when, after a 
long time, the landlord made his appearance, but seemed 
more asleep than awake as he emerged from a side door that 
led to the attic of the Grand Central. 

"Any chance for a belated wayfarer to get a little sleep 
here, landlord?" I asked. 

"Don't believe there is," he said. "If you wait till morn- 
ing, and some of the folks get up, perhaps you can get a 
chance somewhere." 

But all of a sudden a bright thought seemed to strike him, 
and he said: 

"I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll go into that other room 
and pile up some of those shavings, if you can make that do." 

" Good enough, good enough, landlord," I said. 

As I took his lantern, he raked up the shavings, and I had 
a grand sleep in the Grand Central hotel. 

In one field there was a misunderstanding between two of 



146 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

the members of the congregation, and they both brought 
their complaints to the superintendent. I tried to get them 
together and talk over their trouble, and, if possible, settle it. 
But no. 

"He's the meanest man that I ever knew; I'll never speak 
to him again!" said the woman. 

"She's the most contemptible creature that I ever met; I'll 
have nothing to do with her!" responded the man. 

"He must get out of my house immediately, or I'll prose- 
cute him!" continued the woman. 

"I'll stay here till my year ends, if it costs me a thousand 
dollars!" persisted the man. 

"I'll burn the house down, if he doesn't go!" retorted the 
woman. 

"I'll not stir a step — not a step!" with a shake of the fist 
and a stamp of the foot, vociferated the man. 

Their contentions were like the bars of a castle. There 
was but little hope of a reconciliation. 

At length the woman consented to go with me and see the 
man. In less than ten minutes the difficulty was settled, and 
they parted, invoking the richest blessings upon each other. It 
was a happy ending of what threatened to be a lasting breach, 
and a cause of great unpleasantness in the little society. 

Here is a different case, with a very different adjustment, 
though quite as effectual, as it proved : 

The people had just finished a new school house, with 
fashionable desks and modern seats, all complete. It was 
proposed to have a meeting in the new building the next 
Sabbath. Two of the trustees, members of the church, 
gave their consent, and only one man in the whole com- 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 147 

munity objected. This was the third trustee, a man who 
resembled one of Nasby's "Cross Roads" characters. 

Falling back on the dignity of his office, he declared, with 
imprecations of the most violent character, that the school 
house shouldn't be used for religious "meetin's." As he 
was approached Saturday night by the other trustees, he still 
refused to give his consent. 

" I'm goiri 1 in to varnish the seats to-morrer" he said ; "you 
can't have your meetings there." 

"But we shall have our meetings there to-morrow," said 
the other trustees. 

"You're very much mistaken," persisted their opponent, 
as he hobbled about on his shagbark crutch, being lame, and 
sporting a tremendous coon-skin cap, nearly half as large as 
a barrel, while he puffed away on his immense meerschaum, 
and squirted his tobacco juice in every direction, ejaculating 
every few seconds: "You're cussedly mistaken, my friends; 
I shall be there all day to-morrer, varnishi?? the seats. I've 
been hired to do the job, and I per pose to do it to-morrer." 

It was useless to reason with him, and his partners in 
office left, concluding that after tea they would go to the 
school house and stand guard for the night. But when they 
got there, they found the man ahead of them, daubing on the 
varnish at a fearful rate. His wife was holding the lantern, 
and a ray of triumph lit up their faces at their apparent vic- 
tory. But the two men who had proposed to stand guard, 
were not to be foiled in this manner, and the following scene 
occurred in less time than it takes to tell it: 

Varnish pail kiting across the room before the toe of a 
well-aimed boot. 



14° GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

Crutch falling upon the heads of opposing trustees with 
tremendous fury. 

Lantern broken to pieces under some pretty lusty strokes. 

Oil streaming in divers directions, and the zealous var- 
nisher picked up and very unceremoniously pitched out the 
door, with the injunction to be off, or he might expect still 
rougher treatment. 

The seats were soon relieved of their varnish, two rousing 
meetings were held there the next day, while the coon-skin 
cap crowned a head the next morning as meek as a whipped 
spaniel. 

The work of the Lord was not hindered, though it seemed 
somewhat like taking the kingdom of heaven by violence. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Glorious Overrulings — The Church was Built — Sabbath School and Prayer 
Meeting- — A Misunderstanding — Another Happy Ending — A Strange 
Medley — Weekly Pledges — Willing Hearts — Good Shot. 

In a society composed mostly of sturdy farmers, the oppo- 
sition of another trustee was happily overruled. The people 
had come from different parts of the country, taken up their 
homesteads, built their little claim shanties, broken some of 
their land, raised a little produce, and were just getting well 
started, when they began to talk about educational matters 
for the new town. They must have a school. After organ- 
izing a district, and choosing trustees, the question arose, 
"Where can we get a lot, and how shall we build a house?" 

Unfortunately, as they began soon to find out, one of the 
trustees was very difficult to please. A constitutional grum- 
bler, with a large amount of innate stubbornness, is a fair de- 
scription of the man. After a good deal of talk, however, a 
site was informally selected, and one of the officers of the new 
district was to get the lumber and deliver it in due form. 

The next day found him coming up the street with a large 
load of cottonwood joist, studding, boards and other portions 
of the proposed building, when one of the neighbors chanc- 
ing along, assured him that the third trustee had expressed 
himself as decidedly averse to the site that had been chosen, 
and declared that he would have nothing to do with the proj- 
ect if the house was built there. 



150 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

"All right," said the man; "then I'll take the lumber and 
build a granary. 1 ' 

"Why not build a church;" said the other. 

"A happy thought; we'll do that very thing," and away he 
went, the dream of his journey from the sawmill being, first 
a school house, next a granary, then a house of worship. 

The church was built. 

An earnest, wide-awake young man organized a Sabbath 
school in the new district, where a little while before there 
was not a soul within seven miles of the place, and the near- 
est post office was a dozen miles away. A revival followed. 
A church of twenty members was gathered, and the little 
sanctuary that came so near being made into a granary was 
packed to its utmost capacity from Sabbath to Sabbath, till 
another revival followed, and fifteen more were added to the 
church. The leading people of the place were converted. 
Sobriety took the place of intemperance. Instead of cursing 
and blasphemy, prayer and praise were the ruling forces of 
the new town. Horse racing, card playing, dancing and 
frivolity, et cetera, so common in frontier towns, gave way to 
more serious and rational enjoyments. 

The sanctuary service, the prayer meeting, the Sabbath 
school, and social gatherings of neighbors for the acquaint- 
ance with new comers, and good fellowship in general, were 
duly regarded, while the school went on as well, and the 
farmer found another place for his grain. Thus the wrath 
of man was overruled. 

In one church, where it was thought best to attempt only 
a preaching service at first, it was proposed afterwards to 
start a Sabbath school. 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 15 1 

But the leading members said, No, there were not pupils 
enough; there was no one to act as superintendent; no one to 
lead a Bible class; no one to do anything; it would certainly 
be a failure — worse than doing nothing at all. 

But a new twenty-five-dollar library, which had been sent 
to put where it would do good, finally tempted them to make 
the trial, and in a short time they had the leading school in 
the place, and a Bible class of over thirty members. Shortly 
after this, it was asked if the time had not come to start a 
prayer meeting, in connection with the church. 

The deacons thought not. 

There were too few to attend ; there was no good man to 
take the charge of it, as I could only be there on the Sab- 
bath; haying and harvesting would interfere; the evenings 
were too short; every thing was unpropitious; it would cer- 
tainly fail, and the reaction would be bad. 

But one aged man was found at length, who said he would 
lead the meetings, and six women, who would surely be pres- 
ent and take part. This was sufficient, and the meeting was 
announced. When the time came, as one of the timid breth- 
ren who had discouraged the movement approached, a little 
fearful as to whether he would find any one there, he heard 
some one in prayer, and thought he would wait till the prayer 
was ended, and not disturb the meeting. But as soon as the 
first "amen" was pronounced, another voice wasS heard, and 
he had to wait for five prayers before he could get in. It 
was a good meeting, they all said, and the excuses of the 
week before were never made again. From this time the 
feeling was, " We couldn't do without the prayer meeting." 

In a field of large promise, a disagreement arose between 



I5 2 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

two prominent members of the church. Affairs soon began 
to look very serious. The community was intensely excited. 
Crimination and recrimination filled the very air, and threat- 
ened to break up the church. Both the men were of marked 
individuality, sharp, positive, well informed, and like two 
giants in battle array. 

As usual, they both brought their complaints to the super- 
intendent. I said to the aggrieved party, " Let us go and see 
the man; perhaps the trouble comes from some misunder- 
standing, and a little conference may set it all right." 

As the two men met, each told his story, and sure enough 
it was a misunderstanding. 

The difficulties were soon adjusted, and there was a happy 
ending of what might have been a most grievous calamity. 

" Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth ! " but how 
easily the divine fire can consume the most intense heat of 
the great adversary. 

Another case was that of a leading member in the church 
who was most mortally offended with the minister, while the 
minister was greatly grieved with the member. They both 
wrote the superintendent to come up at once. Somethimg 
must be done or the church would go to pieces. Going as 
speedily as possible, I found the forces already drawn up in 
battle array, and the prospects good for a serious conflict. 
The minister stood on one side, and the members with the 
aggrieved brother on the other, and yet they both seemed 
ready and anxious to do anything that was honorable in the 
case. 

"Let us confer together; there must be some misunder- 
standing," I again suggested. After the morning services of 



PIONEER MISSIONS. I 53 

the Sabbath, it was agreed to have a meeting in the after- 
noon, and talk over matters. 

The church was first heard, each member being asked to 
give a fair statement of the case as he understood it, the 
brother aggrieved speaking last. 

It was now the minister's turn. 

"I acknowledge," he- said, "that I spoke unadvisedly — 
spoke in a passion. I was excited and said what was wrong. 
It was unbecoming a Christian, or any one, much more a 
minister of the Gospel. I regretted it at the very time, was 
heartily ashamed of it, asked the brother's pardon On the 
spot, and supposed he so understood it. But if he did not, 
I now most humbly ask it, and the pardon of the church and 
all concerned. I am exceedingly sorry. I have wept over 
it bitterly, and asked God to forgive me as I now ask you. 
I trust God has forgiven me. I supposed you had. If you 
have not, I hope you will." 

His whole bearing was penitential and honorable, though 
his provocation was great, and would have overcome many a 
good man beyond a doubt. He sat down. It was as still as 
death, and as solemn as the judgment. 

I caught the eye of the aggrieved brother and the minister, 
and said, "I think the next thing to do is for } ou two men 
to walk up and shake hands with each other and bury 
this hatchet here and now. They both started at once and 
met half way, while tears like a fountain gushed from the 
eyes of each, as strong men and women bowed themselves, 
sobbing aloud, and ejaculating in all parts of the house, 
"Bless the Lord! bless the Lord!" A prayer of thanks- 
giving was offered as they stood there, hand in hand, and the 



1 54 GLE. WINGS B \ ' THE WA\ '. 

meeting closed with the long-meter doxology, sung with the 
most devout fervor, to say the least. It was another happy 
ending of what threatened to be a death blow to the church. 

A long series of evening meetings followed, largely at- 
tended, greatly quickening God's people, and bringing many 
souls into the kingdom. 

But here is a case as singular as it seemed to be unaccount- 
able. The offender was a young man, clear cut, polished, 
bright, of good education and varied attainments, devout in the 
pulpit and in prayer, a fine independent singer, a good preacher, 
and socially far above the average. But his demeanor when 
out of the pulpit was often intensely queer and perplexing 
He seemed to falsify, if not absolutely lie, when there ap- 
peared to be nothing to gain by it, but everything to lose. 
He told one man that he owned two horses, another that he 
had three, and another four — a pair of horses and a pair of 
ponies, when the fact was he had but one pony, and this he 
held on trust. He told another man that he had sent abroad 
for some fancy English hunting hounds — had telegraphed 
for them, and when they came he was going to make pres- 
ents of them to some friends of his in the community. None 
of the telegraph operators in any of the towns about had sent 
any such dispatch, and as it afterwards proved, there was no 
truth in the story, and no apparent reason for his telling it. 

As he was going to church one bright Sabbath morning, 
and almost ready to enter the house, a little dog ran up and 
yelped behind him, when he pulled out a pistol and blazed 
away at him, to the amazement of the people, as they were 
pouring into the church from different directions, but with 
no more seeming impropriety on his part than if he had 
snapped his fingers at the little whiffet. 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 1 55 

At another time, when taking a sleigh ride with a young 
lady of his parish, as his horse did not trot to suit him, he 
stopped, put the reins into her hands, got out of the cutter 
and said, "I'll make him go," and mounting the horse and 
using the whip most vigorously, he went sailing through the 
principal streets of the village, while the cutter was bobbing 
up and down and swinging from side to side over the hill- 
ocks and ice, as he still plied the whip, and the fair damsel 
was nearly frightened out of her wits, while the people were 
gazing in wonder at the strange sight from every direction. 

And yet he did not seem to think he had done anything 
out of the way, or that any one would take the least notice of 
it. These are specimens of a good many similar incidents. 
No reasoning with the man was of any avail. He could see 
no impropriety or lack of dignity in such things, and he 
seemed to be perfectly amazed that any one should take any 
notice of them. 

He appeared to be very zealous in his work, wanted it to 
go forward, wanted to see men converted and saved, was 
sound in the faith, was ready to hold half a dozen stations at 
once, to expose himself to all the inconveniences of new and 
frontier towns, take long and perilous rides through the 
storms, was contented with a small salary, prayed and la- 
bored for a revival, asked the brethren to pray for his church 
and for himself, sent out postal cards far and near, requesting 
a remembrance in his special efforts, acted sometimes like a 
genuine Christian man, and at other times appeared to have 
no saving knowledge of these things. 

It seemed impossible to change him and he was not easily 
provoked. We could not help liking him, and yet we dis- 



156 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

liked many of his doings most emphatically. He was a thorn 
in our sides, a scandal to the cause, provoking us all the time, 
now making us feel that he was all right at heart, and now 
that he was a base hypocrite. He was a strange medley, 
surely — a bundle of contradictions, a riddle, and we had to 
let him go. 

As pledges for weekly offerings were being taken in one 
church, a brave little fellow connected with the Sabbath 
school said, " Give me a card; I'll take it home, and, after decid- 
ing what I ought to give, will return it with the sum named." 

As I was leaving the hall a few moments afterwards, I 
found the little chap waiting at the bottom of the stairs to 
make further inquiries about the plan. 

There he stood with the card in one hand, and the reins of 
a scrawny pair of donkeys in the other, the harness of the long- 
eared animals consisting of ropes and pieces of leather 
twisted together in a very comical way, while the buggy 
looked as if it was about ready to give out, like the parson's 
" One Hoss Shay," and his two little sisters, dressed in the 
plainest calico, the cheapest kind of chip hats shading their 
sun-burnt faces, waited near as interested parties. 

It was a picture for the- painter! The boy had driven in 
his team from the country five miles, where his father had 
just taken up a homestead. After learning the full signifi- 
cance of the card, he helped his sisters into the buggy with 
the gallantry of a knight of honor, and drove away across 
the prairie with all the speed that his long-eared steeds could 
make, apparently proud of the prospect of soon becoming a 
regular contributor towards meeting the current expenses of 
worship in the new town. 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 157 

"I shall be on hand next Sabbath, sure," he said. 

But he did not wait till the next Sabbath. He was there 
at the evening service of the same day, and he brought his 
card in his hand, holding it up as if it had been a sacred 
pledge to some great prince of royal power, as it surely was. 
After considering the subject with apparently great careful- 
ness, and no doubt prayerfulness also, he made a mark signi- 
fying what he could do at the one cent place. 

It was a little sum to be sure, but the unanimous feeling 
was, that he had probably done his full share, and would have 
the reward of the poor widow, so warmly commended by the 
Master in olden times. If all would do as well proportion- 
ately, there would be no lack in the Lord's treasury, surely. 

In one Sabbath school was a band of "Willing Hearts," 
composed of the little folks, with a few of the mothers and 
elder sisters to supervise the work. There were fifty or sixty 
of them, and they soon grew to be more than a hundred. 
They met once a week, usually Saturday afternoons, to do 
little fancy work of various kinds. The proceeds went into 
the missionary treasury, a part for the foreign and a part for 
the home field. Some of the members had little safety banks, 
which they kept at home, and into which they deposited their 
gifts from time to time. At the close of the year, they held 
their fair, to which all the members were admitted free, while 
others had to pay a small entrance fee. 

This fair was held at the pastor's house, and a grand occa- 
sion it was, as both parents and children were unanimous in 
thinking. 

In one room was a most beautiful array of the workman- 
ship of the little people. There were fancy dolls by the 



I5 S GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

score, trimmed in the brightest style, and perfectly dazzling 
to the eyes of both young and old. And then there were 
gay cushions, and hoods, and aprons, and sacques, and tidies, 
and other dolls, and paper cutters, nicely carved by some of 
the boys, and sometimes a stylish afghan, touched up by 
more practiced fingers, and collars, and cuffs, and hair rib- 
bons, and neckties, and watch cases, and slipper holders, and 
pen wipers, and a great many other beautiful things, most of 
which were bought by the older folks, and given back to the 
children. The money safes were brought out, and when 
opened, were found to contain from twenty to a hundred 
cents each. 

The enthusiasm on one occasion was so great among the 
children, that one little girl, not connected with the band of 
"Willing Hearts," caught the spirit, and wanted to attend the 
fair. So, as she had no money with which to pay the en- 
trance fee, she brought a hen which she had raised — brought 
it alive, in a basket — and in due time it was presented to the 
crowd, and sold at auction as a missionary hen. It was struck 
off to the highest bidder, at exactly one hundred pennies. 

The net profits of the fair at this time were $120, which 
were used in helping evangelize and Christianize the mighty 
West and the regions beyond the great seas. Thus the " Will- 
ing Hearts" were taught to give to missionary objects, to give 
all the time, and they received in various ways much pleasure 
in so doing. 

Being called to visit a field which had just changed pastors, 
I found the following history connected with the new comer: 

A few years before, he was a prosperous salesman in one 
of the large mercantile houses of Boston. For quite a period 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 1 59 

he traveled for this house, whose annual sales were up among 
the millions, his own receipts for goods one year being $100,- 
ooo. His salary was $2,000 and expenses. But hearing one 
of the secretaries of the Home Missionary Society on a cer- 
tain anniversary occasion, his heart was so stirred, that he 
said, " I must give my life to that work." Already a graduate 
of a college, a few years found him away out at the front, in 
one of our smallest missionary churches, with a salary of $600 
a year — a good scholar, an excellent preacher, a fine player 
on the organ, and a leading singer, with a rich, sweet voice, 
that would have brought a premium in many a wealthy 
church. 

It was a bow drawn at a venture by that home missionary 
secretary, that brought such returns. It was the same spirit 
that induced the breaking of the alabaster box of very precious 
ointment, that caused this }'oung man to give himself thus un- 
reservedly to the home missionary work in the difficult field 
that he occupied. 

It brought to mind the words of the wise king: "In the 
morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thy 
hand, for thou knowest not whether shall prosper this or that, 
or whether they both shall be alike good." 



CHAPTER VIII. 

The Little Boy's Prayer — Killed by his Own Son — Fair)' Scenes — Sunday 
Ball Playing— Swift to Ruin — Satan's Emissary- — Divine Providences 
— Scoffing Lawyer — Little Child's Funeral — Black Boy and White 
Stage Driver — Pappoose. 

In one field was a little shaver, but two years' old, who 
seemed to have great faith in prayer. He had been to 
church for the first time after he was baptized, and he evi- 
dently meant to make the most of it. After waiting quietly 
in his seat for a few moments, as he saw his father in the 
pulpit, he seemed to think, "Why can't I go up there?" and 
away he started, and was quickly beyond the reach of his 
attendant. Approaching the pulpit, he called out, "I'm com- 
ing, papa," and in a moment he stood by his father's side. 
With an innocent smile, he chatted away quite briskly for a 
little, as the services went on, and then, as if it might not be 
just the thing for a meeting, he took a seat on the sofa, and 
looked as grave as an associate clergyman. But half a minute 
or so sufficed for this, and down he got, made another assault 
upon the preacher, and not receiving a response, paced back 
and forth upon the pulpit platform a few times, with as much 
composure as if there were but two people in the house, and 
he was acting the most important, as he certainly was the 
most conspicuous, part of the two. After this he walked 
down in front of the desk, calmly surveyed the situation of 
things, and then dashed through the aisles by way of variety. 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 161 

As prayer was offered, he had reached the pulpit again, and 
seeing the bowed heads of the people, he clapped his little 
hands over his eyes, and devoutly stood till the prayer ended. 

Now, there was nothing very bad or boisterous about all 
this, surely, but as the little preacher seemed to divert atten- 
tion from the larger one, it seemed best to administer slight 
reproof after reaching home. 

"Our little boy mustn't leave his seat," they said to him, 
"when he goes to church; mustn't go into the pulpit or walk 
about, but must sit still, as the rest of the people do." 

It made a strong impression on his mind. He appeared to 
think he had really done wrong, and all the next week, when 
his friends spoke to him about it, he said with great solem- 
nity, "I was a bad boy at church; I talked out loud in the 
meeting; I went up into the pulpit and walked around; I 
mustn't do so, but must sit still and hear papa preach." 

Like a true penitent, he asked the Lord to help. In his 
little prayer the next morning of the Sabbath, with other 
petitions, he said: "The Lord make me good at church; 
make me not to go up into the pulpit, or walk around, or 
talk out loud;" and though it was a hot day at church, and 
pretty trying to the older people, he sat all through the serv- 
ices as quietly as could be. Who doubts the sincerity of his 
morning prayer, or questions that the Lord heard and granted 
the petition of the little suppliant? 

In another field was a little shaver, whose father used to 
dandle him on his knee, and carry him on his back, and toss 
him up towards the ceiling, and caress him with kisses, and 
do anything in his power to make him happy. Their 
fondness for each other was very marked and mutual. But 



1 62 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

the father soon began to drink intoxicating liquors. He just 
took a little wine at first, and that not very often. Presently 
he took a little brandy or gin. Then he drank quite fre- 
quently; a little later every day, and by and by he would 
show signs of intoxication. Pretty soon it was a common 
remark by those who knew him best, "He's become a mis- 
erable drunkard." 

His son having grown to be almost a man, also began to 
drink, following his father's example. A few years, and the 
father was cross and cruel — cruel to his son, that he thought 
so much of a little while before; cruel to his wife, and all 
the members of the family. The son became passionate and 
profane. Drink had burnt its dark way into their very souls, 
and after a while that once loving father, in a drunken fit, 
rushed into the house one day, seized a large butcher knife, 
flourished it over the head of his wife, and threatened to cut 
her heart out. 

As she fled, and just barely escaped him, he dashed into 
another room, broke nearly all the furniture to pieces, heaped 
chairs, and bureau, and table, and looking glass, and parlor 
stove in one shattered mass upon the floor, then rushed out, 
seized a shot gun and went for his son whom he used to pet 
so fondly, chased him nearly around the house, shouting out 
with the most horrid oaths, "I'll kill him! I'll kill him!" 
when this once gentle, loving son, suddenly turned, drew a 
revolver and shot his father through the heart, killing him 
instantly. 

What a fearful confirmation of the saying long since ut- 
tered, " Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging. At the last 
it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder." 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 163 

It was a wise study in more than one Christian home, in 
some of the churches, how to furnish the children with suit- 
able amusements. 

"Let us begin, then," said two thoughtful parents, "with 
our little girl's birthday." 

She was just six years' old. 

Tiny, red-edged note paper, with corresponding envelopes, 
were used in giving invitations to the party, and about forty 
little girls with a few boys, mostly of her Sabbath school 
class, responded to the call. They came looking as bright 
and gay as larks. Rosy cheeks, and silken hair so tastefully 
trimmed by mothers and older sisters at home, and white 
dresses, with red, and blue, and scarlet scarfs, and hose and 
shoes and other parts to correspond, showed off in charming 
contrast, though none of the joyful group seemed to think 
of these things. 

They had come for a good time, were glad to see each 
other, and each one seemed to seek the happiness of all the 
rest, especially of the one at whose invitation they had gath- 
ered. Close by the house was a beautiful lawn, with shade 
trees and a carpet of green grass, which had been cut short, 
and was almost as soft and smooth as velvet. 

As they swung in the hammocks, and drove the croquet 
balls, and arranged themselves in circles, and groups, and 
lines, in their little sports, it looked like fairy land. 

The pastor was among the invited guests, and for the time 
seemed a child with the rest of them. As he gave them 
rides in the little hand phaeton over the smooth walks, and 
in various ways contributed to their joy, the sweat fairly 
stood in large beads on his forehead, and little streams of 



164 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

perspiration trickled down his face. It was delightful to see 
the interest manifested between the pastor and the children 
of his flock — children whom he had before, in token of pa- 
rental faith, presented to the Lord in baptism. 

In due time the long extension table was placed out under 
the trees, and after receiving the bright spread, was loaded 
with nice biscuit and butter, and sponge and frosted cake, 
and ice cream, and marble and cream cake, and pure cold 
water, and beautiful bouquets, and many other charming 
things, all of which looked unusually bright and cheery. 

As they gathered around this bountiful supply now wait- 
ing for them, all was still for a moment, when the voice of 
blessing was heard, recognizing God as the author of all 
these good gifts, and giving thanks that He had sent the 
pleasant day, and made the beautiful flowers to grow and 
the birds to sing for their pleasure. The Heavenly Father 
was asked to be with them in all their ways, at home, at 
school, in work, in play, everywhere and all the time. He 
was asked to make them all the friends of Christ, to give 
them all many birthdays in this life, should He think best, to 
guide them in all the paths of peace and truth, and by and 
by, through faith in the Lord of glory, to receive them to 
that bright and countless number of children and others, re- 
deemed and saved in the everlasting kingdom. 

Soon after partaking of their refreshments the good byes 
were said, and they went their several homeward ways, car- 
rying, I am sure, pleasant memories for the years to come. 

It was a fair sample of many expedients to which Christian 
parents must have due thought, would they meet the needs 
of the little ones for social enjoyment, to the exclusion of ob- 
jectionable features so liable to find place. 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 165 

The right way, under the growing conditions of childhood 
and youth, can only be found surely by great wisdom, cease- 
less endeavor, and untiring prayer. 

Several very important young chaps, as they seemed to 
think themselves, in a comparatively new town, to show that 
they had got beyond the old fogy notions of the preacher in 
reference to the proper observance of the Sabbath, drove out 
with their teams one Lord's day afternoon, for a game at 
ball playing. 

To make the thing complete, in their estimation, they took 
quite a quantity of lager beer, drank freely, set out to return, 
got to racing horses, turned over one of their wagons, and 
left two of their very flippant ranters against the superstitious 
notions of the church keeled up in the ditch, with bleeding 
heads, and badly broken legs, while the team hurried home 
with all the speed of frightened runaways, and these young 
chaps, so much wiser than the preacher, were furnished with 
several months' confinement under the hands of the surgeon, 
the final result being a good round bill from the doctor, a 
pair of crutches from the carpenter, with which to hobble 
about for a long time after they were able to leave their 
rooms, and a pretty thorough conviction that playing ball 
on the Sabbath didn't pay that time, to say the least. 

The most wealthy man of a growing town, active, wide 
awake, and very successful in business, offered to give two 
hundred dollars towards building a church. But before we 
were ready to begin the work, little by little, he began to 
trench on the Sabbath with his business. 

Six days and nights were not sufficient. So, breaking in 
on the Loi'd's time, he soon neglected public worship, cut 



1 66 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

himself off from many good influences which he had before 

enjoyed, and henceforth everything seemed to work against 

him. 

Soon his property was mortgaged, then assigned, then sold 
at a nominal price, till it was all gone. He lost everything, 
and was one of the poorest men in town, as he had been one 
of the richest a short time before. He now tried to drown 
his misfortune in drink, and was presently a confirmed sot. 

At length he disappeared. As to his whereabouts no one 
knew. Search was made in every direction but in vain. 
The whole thing was veiled in mystery, till some six months 
afterwards his bleaching bones and those of his horse were 
found in a thick forest, where he had evidently undertaken 
to force his way through the deep snow the winter before, 
and being entangled by fallen down trees and dense under- 
brush, both driver and horse had perished in this shocking 
manner. The beginning of such a sad ending seemed to be 
a violation of the divine command, "Remember the Sabbath 
day to keep it holy." 

In a stage ride over the country, as a specimen of the ma- 
terial with which the pioneer missionary has to do, was a 
passenger who seemed to glory in his shame, though in vari- 
ous ways he testified for the truth. 

He was a stalwart fellow, and physically a fine specimen 
of manhood. He drew a most vivid picture of some of the 
early inhabitants of the Territory. 

They were mostly rough frontiersmen. Their principal 
business was gambling, racing horses, drinking "Old Bour- 
bon," and eating cat fish and mouldy cheese. 

Painted Indians amused the pale faces with their war- 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 167 

whoops, and danced to the tune of whiskey that would burn 
right down to the ends of their toe nails. He gave, in his 
graphic way, interlarded with fearful oaths, an account of 
their old times, and arraigned at the judgment bar a dozen or 
more of the prominent citizens of those days. "There was 
captain such a one; he died of delirium tremens." 

"And colonel so and so; he went to the bad long ago." 
"And general thus and thus; he killed himself drinking." 
A judge and a doctor, and other titled characters, he dis- 
sected in a similar style. 

"The one that could imbibe the most unadulterated fire- 
flip," as he expressed it, "was the greatest hero of the crowd. 
Every night they made tumultuous uproar, and drank chain 
lightning enough," as he called it, "to float the Great East- 
ern." In short, "they raised the devil," as he roughly put it. 
In speaking of one boon companion whose excesses had 
burned out the sinews of life, he said: "He beat the old Nick 
himself, he did. He would swear like a thunderbolt, and 
drink whiskey enough every day to run a saw mill." 

"He's gone where it's hot, sure;" and then he would laugh 
like one of Deacon Giles' horn-headed, cloven-footed imps 
at the capture of some new victim, to be plunged into the 
great fiery caldron of distilled death, to boil, and writhe, and 
seethe in ceaseless torments. 

In the same way, he boasted of smuggling whiskey from 
Canada during the war; of his burying twenty barrels of it 
in the sand at one time, and about the same quantity in a hay 
mow at another time, to prevent detection, and at midnight 
rolling it into the back door of a wholesale liquor store; of his 
crafty escape from officers on divers occasions, among them 



1 68 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

his own Christian father; in short, of his carrying a high 
hand and cutting a tremendous dash in all kinds of villainy. 

When he offered to treat a fellow passenger with a cigar, 
"I never smoke," was the answer; "have no vices." 

"Well, you're just like me, only I have all the vices," was 
the reply; "at least I design to keep up with the time in 
these things. If there are any I don't have, it's because I 
don't know about them." 

And then another fiendish chuckle would escape him, a lit- 
tle inkling perchance of how it may be with lost spirits here- 
after. 

Though in boasted league with Satan, it is for such as he 
was, and to keep others from being like him, that the mis- 
sionary goes out, and how he needs not only the pecuniary 
help, but the prayers of those who send him! 

"I'll tell you how I came to be a believer in Divine Provi- 
dence, gentlemen," said one, as he was talking with a group 
of rough fellows who seemed to regard Christian people as 
a set of pitiable fanatics. 

"I'm a living witness of this thing. When I was in the 
war, I had three horses killed under me in less than twenty 
minutes. A ball from a sharp shooter grazed my face, hit a 
man behind me and killed him in a jiffy. I got three slight 
wounds in one day, saw my brother shot down at my side, 
went into battle in the morning, and at night was one of only 
eight men who answered to the roll call of the whole com- 
pany. 

"I used to sleep in the mud and water and go without eat- 
ing for two or three days at a time. I'm not a rugged man, 
and still I live, 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 1 69 

"God kept me gentlemen. 

" Hundreds and thousands of strong and hardy men were 
killed and died all about me, and I'm indebted to Divine Prov- 
idence that I wasn't among them. At the battle of Gettys- 
burg I helped some timid women raise the American flag 
over a public house, and hold it there till the house was rid- 
dled with canon balls, and not one of us was injured. Then 
we went onto the battle field and worked for hours, helping 
carry off the dead and wounded, while shells and grapeshot 
and bullets were flying in every direction, and yet we all 
escaped. I tell you my friends," he said, "I believe in Divine 
Providence." As another illustration," he continued, "as I 
was riding along with our general at one time, when the 
shells were flying and bursting with terrible fury, and as the 
general saw the men dodge the deadly missiles, "Don't dodge, 
don't dodge, boys!" he said, when the very next moment a 
tremendous shell went whizzing right over the heads of our 
horses, and as the general unconsciously disobeyed his own 
orders, he looked around and very pleasantly said, "You may 
dodge the big ones, boys." He saw that a second more, one 
foot farther on our way, and our heads would have gone, sure. 

"Yes," said the man, "I believe in Divine Providence. 
You can't convince me that there is nothing in these things. I 
tell you that the preachers and the Bible are nearer right 
than you think, I can assure you." 

He preached a capital sermon to these men who never 
darkened the doors of God's house with their presence. 

At this point a scoffing lawyer said, "Well, this Divine 
Providence man may be right after all. • I've noticed in my 
profession that when I've had occasion to leave out a case to 



170 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

arbitration and I've had more than a hundred such cases — 

I've always noticed that the parties, no matter how base and 
unprincipled, aie sure to choose Christian men to act as their 
judges. 1 ' 

Thus two good sermons were preached, and I simply had 
to say, « Gentlemen, I shall be glad to see you all at the 
meeting in the hall to-night at seven o'clock; come, and 
bring your friends with you." They came, and we had a 
good meeting, and at the close of the service they said they 
wished I could send them a man to be there every Sabbath." 
Connected with the Sabbath school of a new settlement 
was a young woman who had so won the love of all about 
her, that when God suddenly called her to himself, the peo- 
ple for a long distance left their busy homes in harvest time, 
and went several miles, most of them in their lumber wagons, 
through the dust of drought ana the heat of summer, to at- 
tend the funeral. In token of their esteem, they wove wild 
flowers from the prairie into a wreath and crown, to lay on 
her coffin, and chose sweet, plaintive airs to sing at the public 
services and the grave. 

Every look of these newly- made friends evinced their 
kindness, every act their good will, and every heart mourned 
the loss of one whose generous deeds and loving life called 
to mind that gathering among the early disciples when the 
coats and other garments exhibited were the results of the 
same loving spirit as the one that so suddenly went out in 
that far-off prairie home. How true it is that a life of love 
always begets love in return. 

While coming back from this service of both joy and sad- 
ness, a colored boy, almost a young man, was seen lying near 



PIONEER MISSIONS. \*]\ 

a clump of bushes on the roadside, evidently in want, and 
the stage driver, reining up his spirited team towards him, 
cried out, "Hello there, what's the matter?" 

It proved that the poor fellow was hungry and weary and 
almost helpless with the rheumatism. And without another 
word the driver quickly leaped from the stage, helped in the 
boy, brought him to a post office several miles on his way, 
and said to the good woman of the house, "Get this chap 
something to eat, and I'll pay for it," but as she refused to 
take pay, he handed the money to the boy, saying, "Here, 
this will help you get something to-night." And we thought 
of the truth that the Gospel is able to make the dwellers in 
claim shanties and sod houses, even to the rough-looking 
stage driver, possess as generous emotions and noble hearts as 
they have who live in ceiled houses and shine in the garb of 
fashion. 

Presently a company of Sioux Indians were overtaken. 
Among them a tiny pappoose attracted attention, when the 
dusky attendants said by signs and a few broken words of 
English, that the real mother of the child was dead and she 
and her husband were caring for the little one. 

They seemed as tender of it as they could have been had 
its skin and their own been as white and their dress as stylish 
as those of more civilized nations. Having been connected 
with one of the missions near there, they had learned to cher- 
ish the same Christian spirit, in their care for the little Indian 
orphan, that had shown itself in so many ways on that day. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Wonderland — Denver — Clear Creek Canon — Colorado Springs — Cluster 
of Marvels — Santa Pueblo — San Juan Regions — The Disturber Put 
Out — Church Organization — The Two Mourners — Footing and Ford- 
ing — Twin Lakes — Grand View — The Meeting — Divers Convey- 
ances^ — Free Ride — Deserted Town — Wagon Wheel Gap — A Rocky 
Mountain Stager — Dead and Live Timber — Immense Pines — Slum 
Gullion. 

An unexpected summons came to work in Wonderland. 

It was the Alps of America, the silver-ribbed, gold-gulched, 
copper-seamed, iron-bound, mountainous Colorado — a portion 
of the country that one must see to understand. The stereo- 
scopic view, the painting — even Bierdstadt's greatest piece — 
can give nothing like a correct impression. The most facile 
pen, the most fluent speaker, falls wide of the mark in his 
attempts. The tourist, like the great Queen of the South, 
touching the splendor of the famous king she went to see, 
exclaims, "The one-half had not been told me!" 

One is pleasantly impressed on his arrival at Denver with 
the charming water courses, which their system of irrigation 
furnishes, so that almost every street in the city has its ever- 
living, babbling brook, the secret of the beautiful trees that 
line these water courses, and the green lawn of the yard, and 
the fresh fruitage of the gardens that everywhere abound. 

The first duty after reaching this Paris of America, as 
some one has termed it, called for a trijo up to Georgetown, 
on the narrow-gauge railroad, through a mighty gorge, with 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 173 

mountains and crags and peaks piled up to the very clouds. 
The little iron horse dashed along furiously by the side of 
Clear Creek, which rushed over great boulders and rocks, and 
curved and twisted like a snake as it went forward. Looking 
out the window, it seemed as if the train was going plump 
against a great cliff that had defied the blasts of a thousand 
years. Looking again, and the little engine was dashing 
across the mad stream, showing new views and stranger sights 
in rocks and crags, as if cleft asunder by ten thousand bolts 
from Jove's great columbiads. Every moment changed the 
panorama, as the train ascended the canon at a grade of two 
hundred feet to the mile, and fourteen hundred feet in eleven 
miles, at one point. 

At length the city was reached, a busy, energetic town of 
five thousand people, whose principal business was the dig- 
ging of ore from the everlasting mountains between which 
they were thickly huddled together, and making it into silver 
bullion by means of their great smelting and reduction works. 

The church at Georgetown, once in a flourishing condi- 
tion, with a comfortable house of worship then standing 
empty, was practically disbanded, part of the members hav- 
ing joined another denomination, and the rest of them wait- 
ing to see what would turn up. 

The next name on the roll was Colorado Springs, one of 
the most charming cities, prospectively, in the world, situated 
at the base of Pike's Peak, whose snow-clad top reaches up 
fourteen thousand feet above the sea, and in close proximity 
to the sulphur and soda and iron springs of the Manitou, that 
bid fair by their medicinal virtues to rival at no distant day 
the far-famed Saratoga. 



174 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

In less than six years after the first stake was stuck in that 
city, it had a population of six thousand souls. 

Its streets were smooth and solid and straight as an arrow, 
with little water courses rippling along on both sides of the 
way, and the whole town was adorned with beautiful shade 
trees. "A charming place!" was the natural exclamation of 
every one. It was especially noticeable, that while industry, 
and good order, and a high-toned sentiment generally pre- 
vailed in that bright young city, Old Bacchus could find no 
place. Not a saloon was allowed, and the only help for the 
champions of this reveling divinity was, to mutter forth then- 
gruff complaints, and steal around some corner or through 
some dark alley, and on the sly quaff their fiery beverage. 

The Sabbath spent there was given to missionary work, 
both morning and evening, and while many missionary ad- 
dresses were made, many fervent prayers were also offered 
for blessings on the home missionary interests of the State 
and college, which latter, from its location, in almost the cen- 
ter of the continent, may one day be the future Oxford of 
America. 

It was a good day, surely, and a cheering thought that 
where a little while before the Ute Indian, the bear, and the 
buffalo held possession, civilization had entered, and the desert 
had begun to blossom like the rose. Near by were the Man- 
itou waters, bubbling up bright and sparkling from their 
deep and mysterious caverns, and just at the right was the 
Garden of the Gods, a large plateau with great rocks and 
boulders of varied formation, some of them jutting up two 
or three hundred feet, with their perpendicular sides almost 
as true as if made by plumb and line. 



PIOMEER MISSIONS. 175 

Still farther along, Glen Eyrie appeared, with its eagle 
nest up in the crags of the rocks, just at the entrance to this 
romantic spot. No wonder that General Palmer should have 
chosen this charming glen for his palatial summer residence. 
A little further along was Queen's Canon, with its almost 
perpendicular rocks on either side of one, as he winds his 
way up the little, narrow path for a mile or so, till stopped 
by a great basin of water which some one had slanderously 
named the "Punch Bowl," but which I should call the "Sil- 
ver Fountain." 

A few miles to the left was Cheyenne Canon, with its 
seven cascades forever plunging down into the abyss, while 
at the right was Williams Canon, with its almost perpendicu- 
lar walls extending up three or four hundred feet, and so near 
each other in places that one could touch the sides of each by 
stretching out his arms at full length, to say nothing of the 
lesser marvels that abound on every side. On one great rock 
two hundred feet high, in the Garden of the Gods, appeared 
the wonderful formation of a bear and a seal, facing each 
other, as if just ready to grapple in fight. On another mighty 
rock was a huge boulder of many tons weight, poised upon 
a pivot, and looking as if the gentle touch of a child's hand 
would move it, and as if a few pounds weight would tottle 
it over. 

I was told by a friend that in another part of the State was 
an elephant, looking as natural as life, and a colored woman, 
with curly hair and thick lips and grinning countenance, the 
veritable Miss Dinah of some Southern plantation, for all the 
world. The sculptor's chisel could hardly have done it 
better. 



176 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

At Santa Pueblo, a short distance from and overlooking 
Old Pueblo, where there was a wonderful blending of loco- 
motive whistles and snorting of the iron horses, quite a little 
company was found with motto like that of the fathers, "A 
church without a bishop and a state without a king," and not- 
withstanding business embarrassments, a movement was set 
on foot for the joint planting of church and school, at no 
distant day. Everything signalized the former pastor of a 
New England church as the man for this work. At this 
time he was in camp up beyond the Manitou, in one of the 
wildest dells that ever Scottish mountaineer would have 
chosen, and if rocky fastnesses, and dashing little rills, and 
cloud-topped peaks, and the night howl of prowling beasts, 
and the screech of forest birds, might have influence, a good 
place surely for gaining inspiration for this leadership. 

The next summons was away to the mountains, to San 
Juan. And so, by a four days' journey in old-fashioned stage, 
in hack, in lumber wagon, through the famous Ute Pass, 
hugging the precipitous sides of Rainbow Falls, past the pet- 
rified forest, where great trees and stumps had turned to solid 
stone; over Summit Park, a beautiful landscape, interspersed 
with pine and balsam, on the top of a mountain three thou- 
sand feet above the sea; over into South Park, seventy miles 
long and thirty wide, surrounded, amphitheater-like, with im- 
mense mountains supported by a background of the snowy 
range, whose white tops did not yield to the sun's rays of a 
whole summer; stopping to drink of the intense sulphur wa- 
ters, and boil a few eggs in the hot springs that lay along the 
way; leaving the park and climbing up, up, up, and then go- 
ing down, down, down, at the rate of ten miles an hour, 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 1 77 

through the wildest regions yet seen, at the end of four days, 
Malta, Lead, and Oro cities were reached, newly discovered, 
rich gold and silver mining districts. 

The next day was the Sabbath, and the little log school 
house, already having place in one of those new towns, was 
packed with eager listeners. Men more accustomed to swear 
than to pray, and more familiar with ardent spirits than the 
good spirits above, arranged for the meeting, and pledged 
their support to the ministrations of the word. " Yes, we 
want the preacher, we want the church," was the almost 
united affirmation of these mountain towns- But while the 
first service was going on, a man who had patronized the sa- 
loons too well during the day began to make disturbance, 
showing his likes and dislikes of what was said, when a gen- 
tleman got up, in a business-like manner, walked across the 
room, and took a seat by his side, very significantly shaking 
his head at him. This quieted the man for the moment, 
when he again soon called out, and another peacemaker took 
a seat on the other side of him. Thus guarded he was as 
meek as a kitten for some minutes, when he again began, 
and the two men very summarily took him by the collar, 
marched him across the room, and opening the door shoved 
him out with as little ceremony as they would have turned 
out a disturbing dog. It was a queer little episode, con- 
ducted with great dispatch, and the utmost dignity and com- 
posure, being a fair index of the way they sometimes manage 
matters in the mines of the mountains. 

The next Lord's day, a church of Christ was organized 
in the town, which afterwards became famous for its rich car- 
bonate ores. 
— 12 



178 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

It was while working in the interests of this church, a few 
years gfterwards, that the irresistible Picket was called so 
suddenly to rest from his labors, and join the ranks of the 
glorified ones. On the day of the first organization of this 
church, the parents from two of the different towns brought 
their children and placed upon them the seal of God's cove- 
nant, in token of their faith. 

One of the devoted women, active in the Sabbath school 
and ready for every good work, who had expected to join 
the first church of the three towns, was called on the same 
Sabbath morning to join the church triumphant, and the day 
following, I helped lay away her body in a beautiful forest 
cemetery on the mountain overlooking the town, and well 
up towards the home of her ransomed spirit, being eleven 
thousand feet above the level of the sea. 

Two bright little girls, the daughters of this good woman, 
were the chief mourners, and they wept as if their hearts 
would break. Strong men were moved with pity, and many 
a tear was brushed away by the brawny hand of the sun- 
burnt miner, unused to give very much sign of outward 
grief. The father was the veriest slave to his cups, and none 
dared hope for his reformation, though, as I bade him a 
final adieu, he promised me, as his muscular frame shook 
with emotion, that he would never drink again. 

There was but one way to reach another new town which 
was sending out the Macedonian cry, and so the rickety 
bridge over the river was crossed by jumping from one rough 
sleeper to another, when it was found that, a little way be- 
yond, a stream swollen to more than ordinary dimensions by 
the recent melting of the snows on the mountains presented 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 1 79 

the sole alternative, and so, boots and socks pulled off and 
pants rolled up, "Young America" like, with valise strapped 
to my back, I waded in and went through. Just over the 
river and another stream appeared, which was crossed in the 
same way, and over the mountains I went, reminded of old 
California times. With blistered feet and wearied limbs, for 
that little valise had grown from a few pounds' weight to a 
very heavy burden, at length Twin Lakes were reached — 
lakes abounding in beautiful trout, one man catching over 
seven hundred in a single day. 

Though these lakes lay at the base of an immense moun- 
tain, they were ten thousand or more feet above the level of 
the sea, forming another amphitheater with green-clad moun- 
tains to the top of timber line, where the snow-clad peaks 
stretched four or five thousand feet farther. 

From the top of Prince Elbert, which seemed to be but about 
half a mile away, and looked as if it might be scaled in about 
twenty minutes, but in reality being about twenty miles to the 
summit, and requiring a whole day on horseback to go there 
and return, could be seen Pike's Peak, Mt. Yale, Holy Cross, 
Mt. Harvard, and several other noted rivals that aspired to 
reach the highest point toward the heavenly city, though all 
of them were over fourteen thousand feet nearer than the 
waters of the proud ocean. 

Resting a day or two, till blisters yielded and stiff joints as- 
sumed their wonted habit, by another tramp of ten miles 
Granite was reached. Little written notices of an evening 
service, for the printing press was not yet there, were thrown 
into every house, store, shop, and saloon even, and eight 
o'clock brought together a goodly company. The little 



I So GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

hymn books that made that valise so heavy were passed 
around, and the meeting was warmed into life by twenty 
minutes or so of good, earnest singing. Before the benedic- 
tion was pronounced, it was voted to have another meeting 
on Monday of the following week. At this gathering a 
Sabbath school was organized, and they promised that every 
Lord's day should find them gathered in that school. It was 
the first dawn of a brighter day to the new town. 

My vehicle to the San Juan was a one-horse buckboard, 
which took me very comfortably down the Arkansas Valley, 
when I fortunately caught a ride with a party of men who 
were making a camping tour through those regions, fishing, 
hunting, sight seeing, and in quest of health, 

The route was through the Poncho Pass, somewhat like 
the Ute, only longer and not quite so near the rumbling, 
tumbling waters that dashed along below. After an eight- 
mile climb of this sort, we passed into an immense range 
called Homan's Park, capable of supporting sheep and cattle 
by the millions. Reaching the valley of the , Saguache, in- 
stead of taking the stage, I very fortunately ha'd the offer of 
a free ride for a hundred and twenty miles behind a span of 
Canadian ponies, that would measure off seventy-five miles a 
day with wonderful ease. 

Leaving this valley, already settled up with farmers, some 
of whom counted their cattle bv the thousands, we entered 
the San Luis Park, a beautiful region seventy-five miles 
long and thirty or more wide, with a road as smooth and 
solid as a floor, but sparsely inhabited at that time, though 
destined some day to be one of the gardens of the State. 
Near the terminus of our journey in this park, was deserted 



PIONEER MISSIONS. ibl 

Looma, a town which, two years before, growing up under 
some intense mining excitement, numbered about a thousand 
inhabitants, with two or three hundred houses, but which, as 
the wheel of fortune turned, was left with a single family. 

Crossing the river, Del Norte appeared, a town whose 
founders were very sure, three years before, as it stood upon 
the outpost of civilization, would soon be a large and pros- 
perous city, but hundreds of miles beyond, where the white 
man had hardly penetrated at that time, larger towns, in 
richer regions, were growing up with wonderful rapidity, 
and so Del Norte was partially eclipsed for a time. 

After changing our fleet ponies and light carriage for the 
gay rig of six noble steeds and a heavy Concord coach, we 
soon reached Wagon Wheel Gap, a long, narrow passage 
way between the mountains; presently whirled into Antelope 
Park, abounding in beautiful antelope, too fleet for the hunt- 
er's hounds, and too shy for the shot of the ordinary marks- 
man; soon passed Antelope Springs, more of Colorado's 
healthful waters, making a sort of Manitou for the rheu- 
matics of the extreme mountain towns, numbering not a few 
of this kind, we presently reached Clear Creek Falls, leap- 
ing down two hundred feet into a very narrow gorge of this 
gorge-abounding S^ate. 

By and by a point was reached resembling the letter S, 
with very precipitous sides, looking down a hundred feet or 
more. The driver, to make our hair stand on end a little, 
and to show us that he was master of the situation, gathered 
up his reins, snapped over his horses' heads with his long 
whip lash a curve very like the precipitous one in the road 
just ahead, when every horse, with rounded neck and dilated 



152 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

nostrils, dashed forward at a fearful rate. Before there was 
time to protest, much less to jump out, the danger was over, 
and with a half shudder, mingled with a sort of vainglory, 
was the exclamation, "That's like one of those genuine 
Rocky Mountain drives that we sometimes read about!" 

All were ready, surely, to award the palm to this man of 
the reins, but just as enthusiastic in saying, "Pray don't re- 
peat it, and we'll immortalize you as the Rocky Mountain 
stager of marvelous skill and the finest kind of hair-breadth 
escapes." 

Following this, the way soon led to mountains of dead 
wood — large trees turned up by the roots, apparently years 
ago, and doubtless by some terrific wind. There was enough 
of this to keep the mighty city in fuel for many a long, cold 
winter. Just beyond and near the top of timber line, where 
the growth of trees was larger and better than at a lower 
altitude, were thousands of acres of heavy pine, of no com- 
parative value there and then, but worth millions, surely, if 
near the great marts of trade. 

But, oh, the road for the last twenty miles of the way ! 
Now it was corduroy, with logs about a foot through, and 
every other log or so gone; then a few rods of rock, as large 
as a half bushel, and not very close together; then deep ruts, 
letting the wheels in nearly to the axles; then a deep ditch 
or quagmire, that hardly seemed to have any bottom; then 
up hill and down, at an angle of about forty-five degrees, 
pitching, and sliding, and curving, and twisting, and turning 
in semi-circular, zigzag shape, and all this many times re- 
peated, till a point was reached which had the very appro- 
priate name of Slum Gullion — a most fearful gully of clay 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 183 

and alkali — the very drainage of the Augean stables for a 
hundred years, one would think; the Slum Gullion, surely, 
of a road that only charged $4.50 toll to its horrified travel- 
ers. As many as twenty broken-down freight wagons were 
passed — some turned entirely over, others onto one side, 
others with a wheel smashed to pieces, others with the axle 
broken, others with the tongue twisted out, and one man, 
with five spans of heavy mules, said he had been eight days 
in getting eight miles. The coach that passed over the same 
road the day before, in plunging into a fearful rut, threw off 
the driver, and the horses ran, turning over the stage and 
breaking divers bones among the passengers. 

While congratulations were passing around on the superior 
luck of this trip, all of a sudden something gave way, and 
sure enough, the coach was minus a wheel. The strong iron 
axle had broken in two, and with a lumber wagon, jolting 
and thundering along at a most unmerciful rate, the next 
fifteen miles were taken. 



CHAPTER X. 

Picturesque View — Distances Deceptive — Bird's-eye View — Sand Moun- 
tains — Veta Pass — Soliloquy — Grand Canon — Sunshine — Funeral in 
the Mines— Touching Appeal — Gold Hill — Spirit of Union — In the 
Dance House — Colorado College — Gifts. 

The grand view presented was an abundant reward for 
climbing to the top of a mountain twelve thousand feet above 
the sea. All the ecstacies imaginable were gone into, but 
how meager seemed the ado! At the left was a beautiful 
park, interspersed with the oak and pine, and surrounded 
with an advance guard of foot hills, with peaks extending up 
more than a thousand feet beyond, and the eternal snow- 
clads stretching up five or six thousand feet further, formed 
the outer guard. Over an immense and rocky range, a little to 
one side, was Silverton, nestled in among the mountains full 
of silver, though half the year shut off from the rest of the 
world by snows which do not fully give way till another crop 
appears. Directly in front, and three or four thousand feet 
below, was Lake City, with its year's growth of fifteen hun- 
dred or two thousand people, and just beyond, with its little 
rocky islets, appeared the lake, shimmering beneath the sun, 
and giving no bottom to the line of a thousand feet. 

Still farther in the distance loomed up the mighty Uncom- 
pahgre, showing to the traveler two hundred miles away — the 
highest point in the whole Rocky range. 

One would have said that twenty miles' travel would have 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 1 85 

reached the top of this immense mountain, when the conver- 
sation of a few days before was brought to mind. 

"What's the name of that highest peak yonder?" asked a 
new comer of a stranger, as he stood gazing into the dis- 
tance. 

"That's Mt. Lincoln," was the answer, "and I presume it's 
farther away than you think for." 

" No, I guess not," he said ; " I understand distances in this 
country pretty well." 

"How far do you think it is, stranger?" 

"Well, I should say it was eighteen or twenty miles, per- 
haps." 

"Just ninety miles exactly, sir." 

But a good joke is told of an Englishman, not long in 
those parts. 

"I'll just go to the top of that mountain yonder, and re- 
turn before breakfast," he said. "It will sharpen my appe- 
tite and give me a little wholesome exercise." 

And away he went at full speed. In about half an hour 
he began to wonder why he didn't reach the top. 

"But I'll soon make it," he said, and he kept climbing as 
vigorously as ever. Another half hour and with fearfully 
short breath, panting like a porpoise, he exclaimed, "Dis- 
tances are terribly deceptive in this country, but I'll soon 
fetch it, I reckon," and he pressed on, puffing like a young 
bullock. 

Six o'clock in the afternoon barely found him at the top, 
and eight o'clock the next evening only sufficed to bring him 
back to where he started thirty-eight hours before. 

Shortly after this, as they came to a small stream about two 



1 86 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

feet wide, to help on the fun of his friends who were with 
him on this occasion, and who had bantered him somewhat 
on his short trip up the mountain before breakfast, he sat 
down, and very deliberately began to pull off his shoes and 
stockings, saying, "Distances are very deceptive about here, 
and I'm going to ford this river; think I shall make it in 
about two days." • 

But returning from this digression: as the journey led 
around the base of another mountain monarch, by a smooth, 
well-graded road of a hundred miles, Ouray appeared, rich in 
the precious metals and likely to be the Bethesda of those 
high mountain towns, its altitude being about the same as 
Manitou, while it abounds in medicinal springs and has a 
broad, fertile valley, the granary and larder of all that re- 
gion. Beautiful Ouray! promising in a few years to number 
its inhabitants by many thousands. 

At another point of the compass was Howardville, boast- 
ing of the most elevated wagon road on the continent; and 
Burroughs Park, with the thriving camps of Telluride and 
Argentine, in close proximity to Capitol and Animas cities, 
and Eureka and Animas Forks, with their magnificent 
canons and rich mineral treasures, already being brought out 
by the miner and refined in the smelting and reduction 
works, only at that time in their infancy. 

At all these points, initiatory steps were taken^ for future 
missionary work whenever the way should be open for it, 
and strong young men were ready to go, and the churches 
were ready to support them, as they should hold these forts 
for the Master, doing thereby a grand and glorious work for 
the future of the Nation and the world. 



PrONEER MISSIONS. 1 87 

While returning from the San Juan regions, we passed 
vast mountains of sand a little to the left, and peculiar as 
changing their height from time to time, not unfrequently 
varying as much as two hundred feet in the space of six 
months. There was quite a group of these, and the matter 
of altitudinal superiority depended upon the wind. As this 
might chance to veer around some point, or suck through 
some opening, depression or elevation followed. 

Now the king of the group, as head and shoulders above 
the rest, lay at the north; three months more, and the east 
might gain the day; still later, and the west might be the 
chief captain. The fickleness of the wind seemed to decide 
which should be monarch of these sand mountains. 

How many crownings there are in this world by fickleness 
no more significant! 

But leaving the stage and taking passage on the Rio 
Grande narrow guage, a point was soon reached over which 
the cars had but just commenced running, showing the most 
wonderful railroad engineering in the country, if not in the 
world — a point on the side of the mountain nine thousand 
three hundred and thirty-eight feet above the sea, and nearly 
a thousand feet above the base of the mountain, more than 
twice as high as Trinity church steeple in New York city. 

A glance to the left exhibited a fearful chasm, two or 
three hundred feet deep. Away below, on the plain, was 
seen the same narrow gauge running parallel with the point 
over which we were gliding along, on the side of the broken 
mountain above the precipice, and amid giant rocks and 
granite cliffs, through which man had made a great high- 
way of travel. 



1 88 n LEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

It is no weakness to confess to a slight touch of dizziness, 
as we peered down into the fearful abyss. This natural 
soliloquy followed: 

"If this doesn't beat all!" 

"The Alps are nothing!" 

"Cloud-topped peaks are nothing!" 

" These narrow-gauge railroads can be built anywhere, it 
seems!" 

But how in the world could we get down there? The 
answer was in turning, and twisting about, and passing around 
several points called mule-shoe curves, and descending at a 
grade of two hundred and seventeen feet to the mile, when at 
length the bottom was reached, and with a sort of amazement 
we looked back towards the clouds, far above the tops of 
mighty pine trees, to see where we came from a little while 
before. 

Yankee skill, with the help of English and German cap- 
ital, is sure at no distant day to drive the iron horse in every 
direction over the rugged paths of the Rockies and the 
Sierras, making a highway for commerce through mighty 
gorges and over snowy ranges, wherever promise of returns 
shall justify the outlay. A trip to Georgetown and over the 
Veta Pass, is proof sufficient. Tourists by hundreds of thou- 
sands must be attracted to these places when they shall be- 
come more generally known. 

Stopping on the way to see the Grand Canon, the grandest 
of all the grand ones, ten miles long and two thousand feet 
deep, a look down into the everlasting abyss was well nigh 
overwhelming. One man, of reverent spirit, as he uncovered 
his head and stood in mute astonishment for a moment or 



PIONEER MISSIONS. I Sg 

two, as if trying to frame some suitable expression, simply 
exclaimed at length, "The Great Eternal!" 

Coal, iron, gypsum, hot and sulphur springs exist in 
great abundance in this locality, and the climate is mild and 
healthy. 

At a town which had taken for itself a bright and glorious 
name — Sunshine, a mining mountain town a few miles be- 
yond Boulder — the people were found earnestly desirous of 
stated preaching. A Sabbath school had been started, and a 
liberal-minded Baptist doctor, the beloved physician of the 
town, was zealous in the good work, and ready to co-operate 
in any feasible movement for the promotion of Christian 
morals in that new community. One of Mr. Moody's con- 
verts in Boston the winter before was found there, true to 
his profession, and " known and read of all men." At the 
preaching service, the next Sabbath, the large school house 
overflowed with intelligent and earnest Sunshiners, and 
arrangements were made to supply them with regular 
preaching thereafter. 

Within half an hour after reaching this place, I was sum- 
moned to a little mining town reached by a road so rugged 
that it took three hours with two good horses to go five 
miles, to attend the funeral of a little boy eight years' old, 
who had died very suddenly, leaving the parents almost dis- 
tracted in their bereavement. The father was regarded as 
the wickedest man in all the camp. He was terribly. profane, 
and he taught his child to swear, and laughed at his obscene 
and shocking language; but when God came and laid his 
hand on that boy, the father said, " Get a minister of the 
Gospel, if you can find one, and bring him here and have 
him preach a funeral sermon in my house." 



19° GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

As I entered the rude abode I was greeted most cordially, 
and hot, scalding tears streamed down the father's face. 

The mother brought the Bible, dusty with disuse, but 
showing on the fly leaf a parting gift from a Christian fa- 
ther, in his far-off Eastern home. She told me of her early 
life, talked of her boy, "But, oh!" she said, "we haven't 
lived as we should." 

She was inconsolable. I tried as best I could to meet her 
needs in this day of such unexpected sorrow, and they 
promised to study God's word, and find out more fully the 
way of life and peace through Christ. 

At the close of these services, six stalwart soldiers acted as 
pall bearers, passing up on foot to the burial place through a 
steep, narrow way, where none but footmen could go. 

The next day I was asked by a young man and his wife, 
who the day before had followed to the grave their little 
twin children, with no opportunity for religious services, to 
say something at the meeting on the Sabbath which would 
be suitable, as it seemed too heathenish to pass over such an 
occasion with no recognition of God, and no Christian burial. 
It was a touching appeal from those parents, and I answered 
it as best I could. 

Early one Sabbath morning a rap at my door aroused me, 
and as I asked " What's wanted," the answer was, "A man 
below wishes to see you." Hurrying down, good Mr. Wool- 
cot, of Gold Hill, three miles above, was waiting with his 
pony. 

"I've come down to have you go up and hold a meeting 
at our place this morning at half past ten o'clock," he said. 

"But how can I get there?" 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 191 

"On this pony." 

"Then how will you get back?" 

"Walk." 

"How shall I be here for the meeting this afternoon?" 

"I'll get you here in time." 

And so I went, riding the pony up a mountain so steep that 
I came near slipping off behind several times. After a while, 
as I insisted upon changing with this excellent brother, and 
letting him ride part of the way, "Not a bit of it," was the 
answer, "I must ride all the way," and the master of the 
pony would walk, while the sun poured down hot rays that 
made him look, by the time he reached the top, as if he had 
been drenched by a shower. 

By an hour's notice of the meeting, word being sent to 
every house, at the appointed time, the school room was well 
filled with intelligent and earnest Gold Hillers. 

Here, too, they had a Sabbath school, and arrangements 
were made to supply this place with preaching once each 
Sabbath. It was said that in 1864 Gold Hill had a popula- 
tion of about a thousand souls, but the mines not turning out 
as well as they expected, they all left but one man. Ten 
years after newer and richer discoveries were made, and soon 
the mountain was honeycombed with prospect holes, nearly 
all of them yielding something, and some of them being 
very rich. Sufficient capital and the right kind of machin- 
ery were only wanted to develop large wealth in that region. 

As one from the top of the mountain looked off in differ- 
ent directions from three to ten miles around, he could see 
Sunshine, Gold Hill, Magnolia, Ward, and several other 
towns and mining camps, each with from fifty to two hun- 



192 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

dred people, and each expecting to grow to a town of 
importance, and needing certainly the Gospel from the be- 
ginning, if we would hope for the best in after years. It 
was gratifying to find in those mountain towns such a spirit 
of Christian union on the part of the people. "Give us good 
men, who can interest and instruct us," they would say, "and 
that's the main thing." 

Are the leaders of the different churches as united as this? 
At the temporary terminus of the Rio Grande Railroad 
was found a population of about eight hundred, with no 
religious privileges, and but two professing Christians, a 
couple of women, who had once been members of a Pres- 
byterian church. There were fourteen saloons under full 
blast, day and night, Sabbaths and all, and two large dance 
houses, a hundred feet deep and proportionately wide, with 
the general fixtures for dark deeds of sin all complete. 

Arrangements were made for three services on the Sab- 
bath morning and evening in one of the public houses, and 

afternoon in one of the dance houses. The proprietor of 
the hotel was very cordial and hearty in arranging a room, 
saying as he did so, "My parents were good, Christian peo- 
ple, and I know what's right, if I don't always do it." 

Thus they had the first religious meeting in the new town, 
while the sound of the saw and hammer could be distinctly 
heard on every side, as the work in general went forward 
quite as briskly on the Sabbath as on any other day. The 
keeper of the dance house also declared, "I was brought up 
religiously, my parents were good people, and I know what's 
right, whether I practice it or not." 

He fitted up the seats in good style, came to ask me before 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 193 

services commenced if there was anything more that I needed, 
apologized for not having his decanters covered up as he had 
intended to, sent his barkeeper forward with a pitcher of ice 
water, and said, "I wish you to feel perfectly at home, and 
use any liberty that you would anywhere." 

Whether this was to salve over a guilty conscience, or out 
of respect to the memory of his parents, it showed the effects 
of early religious training, certainly. 

Several familiar hymns being sung, the audience began to 
assemble, most of them straggling in with the inevitable 
cigar or pipe under full puff, the hardest looking set of men 
that are often gathered together in a religious meeting, 
surely — red faced, purple nosed, unkempt — rough speci- 
mens, truly! At one end of the hall was a bar, with its 
bottles and glasses, of various sizes and colors; at the other 
end an orchestra, with piano, base viol, guitar, and several 
smaller instruments of music, while the walls were adorned 
with pictures perfectly in keeping with a place of this kind. 
About seventy-five men of the sort described composed the 
audience. As soon as the meeting commenced they stopped 
their smoking, pulled off their hats, and, in answer to a re- 
quest, arose and stood during the first singing and prayer. 

They were reverent and orderly, with the exception of one 
stalwart fellow, who was so "set up" with bad whiskey 
that he made a little speech as he entered the room, and oc- 
casionally threw in a few interjections here and there, his 
companions hissing him when he did so, while I kept right 
on as if nothing unusual was occurring. A few of the men 
sat a while, and then walked quietly out, as much as to say, 
"We don't care to hear." Most of them remained till the 
—13 



194 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

meeting closed, and now and then tears were seen to start 
from the eyes of those rough and dissipated men. At the 
last singing, and as the benediction was pronounced, they all 
stood again, when a few of them walked to the bar and took 
a drink, but many of them waited and shook hands with me, 
and quietly left the hall, practically saying, as Agrippa said 
to Paul, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian," and, 
with Felix, trembling as the great apostle "reasoned of right- 
eousness, temperance and judgment to come." 

The issues of that service under such peculiar circum- 
stances belong to God, and eternity only can show the re- 
sults. 

A few months' life and a little missionary work in the 
wonderfully tonic atmosphere of the centennial State, and the 
command seemed to be, "Go plead for that college," whose 
site a few years before was one of the camping grounds of 
the Ute Indian, as he chased his game over the plains and 
through the mountains. At this time a town of several thou- 
sand people had grown up, while more than twenty-five 
miles of trees lined the artificial water courses that went bab- 
bling along through the well-graded streets, some of which 
were two miles long, as straight as an arrow, and as smooth 
and solid as a pavement. Pike's Peak, with its rugged sides 
of green, gray, and reddish tints, and the summit clad in per- 
petual snow, looked as if one could walk to the top and back 
before breakfast, though a whole day on horseback was 
needed for this. 

Manitou, close by, with its medicinal waters, was already 
a place of no inconsiderable resort for invalids and pleasure 
seekers. 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 195 

The Garden of the Gods was a marvel to all visitors. 

Cheyenne Canon, Queen's Canon, Glen Eyrie, Williams 
Canon, Ute Pass, and the petrified forests, were all full of in- 
terest to one who loves nature and reads "books in the run- 
ning brooks, and sermons in stones." But more than all, 
that wonderful, exhaustless pharmacon that puts to the blush 
the wisdom and skill of all the doctors of the world, was be- 
ginning to interest suffering thousands. 

What a place for a Christian college! It was indeed strat- 
egic. 

Colorado, with the grandest mountain scenery in the 
world; New Mexico on the south, with its hundred and 
twenty-five thousand Spanish-speaking people, and a well 
organized corps of Jesuits; Utah, with eighty thousand Mor- 
mons; Nevada, unsurpassed for its silver mines; Arizona, 
with its wonderfully salubrious climate; Idaho, Montana, 
and Wyoming, containing the richest of pasture grounds; 
Old Mexico, a southern neighbor, through which the Rio 
Grande Railroad was soon to pass on its way to the city 
of the ancient Montezumas; many Indian tribes here and 
there, and the mighty rush of emigration into those re- 
gions every year, among them all sorts of adventurers, showed 
plainly enough that a great moral conflict must be waged on 
that soil. 

Five hundred miles, the nearest point to any other Chris- 
tian college, and a thousand miles to a theological seminary, 
while nearly a hundred students had already knocked for ad- 
mission to this seat of learning, among them several young 
men looking forward to the Gospel ministry, were enough 
surely to make the energetic, indomitable president enthusi- 



l 9 6 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

astic in his work. No wonder that his blood boiled and his 
bones waxed hot as he saw the needs and tried to grasp the 
future possibilities of that land. No wonder that men and 
women who were intrusted with the Lord's money, and were 
asking how best to use it, were so ready to respond when their 
eyes were opened to the truth. Said a young Christian gen- 
tleman of business: "Here's a check of a hundred dollars 
to-day ; call again in a week or two, and I think I may be able 
to do more." 

Said another: "I shall be busy till nine o'clock this evening; 
if you'll come then, I shall be glad to learn more of your 
mission." As he responded to the ringing of his door bell 
with a hearty welcome, at the time appointed, he seemed as 
much absorbed in the welfare of the college as he could have 
been in the railroad business of the early evening. 

"Please be seated; I'm glad to see you; am interested in 
your work; shall be glad to do something for it now, and 
more, perhaps, by and by. Business you know is dull; I'm 
making nothing at present, hardly meeting expenses, but I 
wish to help forward a cause with so much promise," re- 
sponded a wholesale dealer, and his check was not slow in 
filling out. 

"I've read the papers you sent me with great interest, and 
can do but little now," as a check of two hundred dollars 
was given, with the prospect of more by and by, was the 
greeting of another. 

"It's the eleventh call that I've received this forenoon; it's 
so nearly every day. People think I'm rich because I give 
away so much, but I'm not rich by any means," responded 
one whose heart was so much bigger than his purse. "Never- 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 197 

theless I shall not send you away entirely empty handed. 
Your object is an important one, and I wish my check was 
ten times as large as it is." 

"In addition to this," remarked another, as he handed out 
his generous gift, "I shall remember your cause and do what 
I can for it in the future." 

These are specimens, and the day cannot be far distant 
when some of the Lord's stewards will hear the Master say- 
ing, "Make a large endowment to this seat of learning," and 
when the joyful donors are striking their harps of praise 
around the great white throne, future generations will rise 
up and call them blessed. 



CHAPTER XL 

The Major Domine — The Heroine — Remarkable History — Gospel Tro- 
phies — Afraid of the Storms — Providential Delays — Sabbatarian — 
Faithful Witness — Service in the Grove — Shot Dead — Swift Ven- 
geance — Worse than Heathen — Brule Sioux. 

Being called to organize a church in a new settlement, 
where six months before there was nothing but bare prairie 
for a dozen miles in every direction, a population was found 
within a radius of convenient nearness for public worship, of 
three hundred people, among them a hundred voters. They 
had built a sod school house, with a board roof and floor, the 
first and only one in a county nearly or quite as large as the 
State of Rhode Island; had given county warrants for the 
most improved modern seats, blackboard and charts, and had 
already held three months' school. 

The teacher was one of the heroines that the broad prairies 
of the West seem to develop now and then. With her small 
cooking stove, cupboard and cot, she boarded herself in this 
humble room where she taught. By the gallantry of the 
larger lads, whose favor she easily won, water was brought 
from the well of a neighboring homesteader, whose unpre- 
tentious mansion consisted partly of sod from the prairie, and 
partly from the lumber of dry goods boxes, while the fuel 
for cooking purposes was from the twisted grass of a ravine 
near by. 

Here a church of twelve members was organized, a little 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 1 99 

band of men and women as devoted as the Pilgrims of the 
Mayflower. Before they had even finished their own sod 
shanties, they said, " We must have a place for school and 
church," and so they built. A small melodeon was found in 
the neighborhood, and borrowed for the day, with three or 
four worn copies of the Moody and Sankey hymn books, 
part of them No. i and part No. 2. The singing on that 
occasion was believed to be about as good as that enjoyed by 
half the churches in the land. 

But who was the pastor of this little flock ? He gave a 
brief account of himself. His mother early designed him 
for the ministry. As far back as he could remember, she 
used to pray, with her hand on his head, that the Lord 
would make him a preacher of the Gospel. He always be- 
lieved that those prayers would be answered. In his studies, 
in all his plans, he kept that thought in mind. When asked, 
as children often are, what he was going to make of himself, 
he invariably answered, "A minister." After the war broke 
out he enlisted as a private, then captain, then major, which 
latter office he held till the close of the war. His relations 
were such as to bring him into intimate contact with General 
Grant. Having under him a man of marked ability and suc- 
cess as a spy, one of those very few men of fate, evidently 
born to run the most wonderful escapes, always going on the 
errands to which he was sent, and always succeeding, as if 
guided by a divine hand, he called the attention of his gen- 
eral to him, and so the man was continued in the business to 
the close of the war, achieving some of the most brilliant 
feats in his line that history has ever recorded. 

" Make a book," said Grant to the major, the dominie of 



200 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

the pioneer sod school house, " and give an account of your 

marvelous spy hero. It will be a fortune to you." 

So he wrote the book, and after expending on it all that 
he was worth, six or seven thousand dollars, it was fraud- 
ulently wrested from him and re-published in New York 
city, under the title, " The Great American Scout." But 
our poor parson got none of the profits. He shook the tree, 
and sharpers gathered the fruit. 

All this time he was a man of the world, and yet the feel- 
ing lingered with him that he was, somehow, to be a min- 
ister of the Gospel. The prayers of his sainted mother would 
certainly be answered. 

After an honorable record in the field and the camp, at the 
end of the war he returned home, procured a small farm, 
built a house, and hardly more than saw it completed before 
it vanished in fire and smoke. Nothing was left. 

Soon after this he gave his heart to God, and by the ad- 
vice of friends on every hand, began to preach the Gospel 
in by-places, country school houses, and districts where no 
religious opportunities were enjoyed, acting as a lay preacher, 
and often seeing the fruits of his labors in the conversion of 
souls. A year or two more, and he was licensed and or- 
dained, and had the pleasure of gathering several churches 
and building several houses of worship. Though sadly worn 
by war, and impoverished by heartless scoundrels, scorched 
by fire, and marked by the silver touches of time, he was 
found at the very front, working away with all the vigor of 
a young man — a preacher of more than average ability and 
tact in meeting the difficulties so numerous in the frontier 
missionary work. His wife was a refined and cultivated lady, 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 201 

and his children as noble and worthy as one often meets. 
Their sanctuary we have noticed; but what of their own 
home? It was simply a sod house, and only a week or two 
before my visit was favored with so much as the luxury of a 
floor other than the ground. 

Did they not deserve a better equipment in their holy war- 
fare at the front? 

In another field was a brave worker, who had but a dollar 
in his pocket when he entered college, but he graduated with 
honors, took a thorough theological course; studied medi- 
cine; received the title of M. D.; did genuine home mission- 
ary work in New York and Michigan; acted, for a time, as 
the secretary of the Sabbath School and Publishing Society, 
in Boston; then served as the children's missionary in Chicago; 
was for four years at the head of the reform school of the 
city; introduced the moral-suasion theory into the school; 
went to Germany and Scotland to urge the same valuable 
changes in the old world that he had already inaugurated in 
the new; superintended the State Reform School of Michi- 
gan; declined an urgent invitation to take the oversight of an 
asylum for imbeciles in Boston; was reduced to the most 
extreme poverty while waiting for another field of labor; 
taught a small Latin school for a brief period, and afterward 
acted as principal of a school in South Carolina; was chosen 
superintendent of the contrabands in Washington; was 
thrown out of this position by the never-ceasing whirligig 
of politics; was again reduced to the most grinding poverty; 
was given the position of third auditor in Washington, on a 
salary of $1,300, then $1,400, and at length $1,600 a year; 
was intimately associated with such men as Chase, Hamlin, 



202 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

Wadsworth and Wilson — warm friends of his; was again 
persecuted for righteousness' sake, and ousted from his place ; 
was called to superintend the building grounds of Howard 
University; suggested the name of that institution; acted 
as its librarian, had charge of the large art gallery, put- 
ting into it from his own meager earnings more than $400 
worth of paintings, was appointed lecturer on Biblical an- 
tiquities and Bible lands; was chosen a trustee of the college, 
and secretary of the executive committee; and, when crowded 
out of these positions, went to Florida in hopes of doing mis- 
sionary work there, but not receiving an appointment, went 
to Rockf ord, 111. ; preached here and there and held Bible read- 
ings in by and obscure places, as opportunity offered, and at 
last reached the land of the Dakotas, saying: "I have come 
not to seek land, but to preach the Gospel, and do the Lord's 
work just where he would have me do it." 

He took one of the smallest fields, twenty miles from a 
railroad, and here he continued for six long years, gaining 
the love and esteem of all the people. Converts to right- 
eousness were continually multiplied, and wonderful changes 
followed. 

His people were poor and his salary was small, but he was 
highly honored, and universally regarded as one of nature's 
noblemen — a true philanthropist, an ardent patriot, a sincere, 
genuine Christian, a friend to everybody. 

The older people called him father, and the little ones knew 
him only as grandfather. He built a beautiful church, with 
blinds, bell, and everything complete, without asking aid 
from the Union, and what was better still, had a glorious re- 
vival, and admitted a goodly number of new-born souls into 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 203 

the fellowship of the saints soon after the dedication of the 
church. He trusted in God with all the simplicity of a little 
child, was great in humility, and grand in his strong faith and 
Christian devotion. 

On a certain occasion, before coming to Dakota, he lived 
for weeks on corn bread alone, and when completely out of 
food at one time, he took his case to the Lord in the most 
fervent, earnest prayer. 

Before rising from his knees, a man rapped at the door, 
and waited with two nice chickens, which he received as a 
direct and quick answer from his heavenly Father. 

On another, occasion, wishing very much to attend a meet- 
ing of the association, but having no money with which to 
go, he packed his valise, got ready, put on his overcoat, took 
the matter to the Lord, and rising from his knees walked over 
to the court house to do a little errand, when he was handed 
two five-dollar bills by the county clerk — money which had 
just come to pay for some school work which he had done in 
the district the summer before. 

He immediately replied, " The Lord has heard me," and 
rushing out across the street to his house, and holding up the 
money in his hand, he cried out in great exultation, "He's 
sent it, He's sent it;" upon which, the stage almost immedi- 
ately drove up, and seizing his valise, and saying to his wife 
and children, " Good bye, good bye," he got aboard, and was 
soon on his way to the meeting which he had so greatly de- 
sired to attend, and for which he had so earnestly sought the 
Lord. 

Many such instances could be given of his implicit faith in 
God, and of the way the Lord heard and answered his prayers. 



204 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

" I was easily impressed with Gospel truth when a mere 
child," said one, in a revival meeting of quiet but deep inter- 
est; he had always prayed, and could not date the time of 
his first hope, but when he felt compelled to reveal his feel- 
ings to some one, he wrote them out, slipped them into his 
father's hands, and darted out of sight as quickly as possible. 

His father met him an hour or two aferward with tearful 
eyes and choking voice, weeping for very joy. 

He kindly talked with him, and from that very hour he 
began to walk in the light. In a few months he stood up in 
the large assembly to profess Christ, and assent to a long 
series of abstract doctrinal statements, that he. did not then 
understand, had not yet fully mastered, and never really ex- 
pected to. Had he been helped by Christian friends, he 
might have found the light much sooner, and had the church 
creed possessed more of Christ and less of metaphysics, it 
would have brought comfort to his sad heart. "Oh, talk to 
the children of these things,'' 1 he said, "in a simple, free and 
earnest manner, and try to lead them early to Christ." 

Another told of how he and a few of his mates used to go 
to the school house for prayer meetings, going first to the 
minister's house for the key; and though the minister knew 
what it was for, he never uttered a word of encouragement, 
or acted as if he thought it possible for children to have any 
proper conception of religious things, or to be capable of be- 
coming the friends of Christ. For years and years he groped 
in the dark, when some earnest Christian friend might have 
brought him quick relief. 

"Don't forget the children," he reiterated, "for they un- 
derstand more than we think." 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 205 

Another told of going away to school, meeting Christian 
people, attending the prayer meeting, obtaining a hope, be- 
ginning to pray, and writing home, when, by the grace of 
God, his letter was the means of the conversion of his father, 
mother, brothers and sisters. "Yes," he rejoined, "children 
and young people can comprehend these things." 

Another, a young man, who was holding an important 
official trust in the community, left home when a mere lad, 
crossed the Atlantic, and settled in the far West. As he 
bade adieu to his friends, the last words of his mother were, 
"Don't forget your God, my dear boy; pray to him every 
day, and read the Bible always." 

"I seem to see her now," he said, "as I saw her when 1 
looked back, as I was about to pass over the hill to be for- 
ever out of her sight, as she stood in the open door, straining 
her eyes to catch a last glimpse of her departing son. I heat- 
her last words, 'Don't forget your God!' But, oh! I did for- 
get. The excitement and whirl of business in the great city 
of the lakes banished from me everything serious. There 
was no place left for the Bible, or God, or prayer, or hardly 
a thought for my dear, aged mother. 

"For seven long years she had lost track of me, but by 
some means she discovered my whereabouts, and a few days 
ago I received a letter from her. It ended as all her letters 
used to years before, by exhorting me to become a Christian. 
For a moment serious thoughts possessed me, and for the 
first time in many years, I tried to pray. As I was going to 
my office that night, a friend overtook me and invited me to 
go to the prayer meeting. The truth impressed me. The 
Holy Spirit strove with me. The next night I asked the 



206 GLEANINGS BY THE WAV. 

prayers of Christian friends. By the grace of God I am now- 
repentant. The prayers of my mother, the Lord hearing, 
saved me." 

Another was called at the age of twelve to shift for him- 
self. His parents were poor, but they left him a rich legacy 
in the unassuming piety that pervaded his childhood home. 
He should never forget the daily prayers of his parents, as 
they bowed together in token of their faith in God. 

"Don't forget the family altar," he emphasized. "It will 
be a sweet and holy savor to the children all through life." 

Another, a man of splendid physique and musical voice, 
had been a captain on the lakes for twenty-five years, a very 
profane man, and excessively fond of playing poker, which 
had consumed much of his time and led to gaming, "for 
what's the use of playing unless you gamble?" he said. It 
was such a passion with him, that he feared he could not 
give it up. So he went to the Lord, and asked Him to take 
away his love for the game. The Lord heard, and from 
that day the charm was all gone, and he hadn't the slightest 
desire for it any longer. 

" Come, captain," his old cronies would say, as they might 
chance to meet him now and then, "let's have a game." 

"No, no more of that; I'm through with that business." 

"Ah! How long is this going to last, captain?" 

"Just as long as I stay here." 

"But, oh! I'm amazed when I think of God's forbearance 
with me. When I was once caught in a tempest, while 
passing through the straits of Mackinaw, as I stood throw- 
ing the lead and line, not daring to trust any one else at so 
critical a time, and thinking that every moment might be 



PIONEER MISSIONS. ^ 

the last, I said in my sore distress: Save me, carry me 
through, oh God, and I'll serve Thee the rest of my life; 
I surely will! 

"And what do you think? The Lord took me at my 
word, and my vessel was the only one that went through. 
All the rest were lost — passengers, cargo, everything! 

"And then, can you believe it, I went back on the Lord! 
Oh, if you knew how mean I had acted, you would be ready 
to hoot me out, I do believe." 

"Perhaps the rest of us," said the pastor, "could offset it; 
we're all of the same craft, till we surrender to the Great 
Captain of our Salvation." 

For this man, also, the prayers of a Christian mother never 
ceased. 

These and other similar cases point back to early religious 
training in some way. Surely, childhood life is the seed 
time, and praying fathers and mothers prepare the way for 
the ingathering of souls into the kingdom of glory. 

In one field was a lad who was very much afraid of the 
storms, that sometimes raged with terrible fury. His cheeks 
blanched before the thunder cloud, and the blizzard and the 
tempest were a great terror to him. Whenever they pre- 
vailed he would rush down cellar. Weeks and months 
passed, and the cellar was often his place of refuge. 

But after a while his fears departed. He remained quietly 
in the house, instead of under it, when the storm came. 

"How is this? What has happened?" said one and an- 
other of the family. At length he revealed the secret. 

"Mother," he said one day, "I'm not afraid of the storms 
any more. Since I found Christ I feel perfectly safe." 



2o8 GLEANINGS B Y THE IV A Y. 

And when the dark thunder clouds rolled together in mad 
fury, and the lightnings gleamed and flashed down upon the 
plains, he was unmoved. Whether in the house, or under 
it, or out in the storm, it made no difference to him. 

What a power is the grace of Christ in the soul, and how 
significant, in view of such instances, are the words: "Born 
again," "A new creature," and the like? 

In one field a good providence delayed for several weeks 
the organization of a church, much to our regret at the time. 
The most violent storms hindered. It was thus on two occa- 
sions; and so, shut up to the necessities of the case, an oppor- 
tunity was furnished the first time to secure invaluable aid 
from a family of large influence, whose help was very much 
needed. 

The next time another family whose hospitality was being 
shared was induced, as the subject of religious obligation was 
discussed, to commence household religion, ask blessings at 
their meals, read the Bible, and set up the family altar. It 
was a new departure in that prairie home, but resulted in 
great good to the parents, and still greater good to the chil- 
dren, two of whom soon arose for prayers in a public meet- 
ing, and signified their wish to become the followers of 
Christ. 

At the third trial for organization, it was found that a Sab- 
batarian had set up his tent, and for two weeks had been hold- 
ing forth day and night, calling the people from far and near. 

What should be done? 

Divide the little company into two services at the same 
hour? 

It would lend to envious remark on the part of many, look 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 209 

like unwise opposition, and do more harm than good. Hence 
it was proposed to make the tent the place of general rendez- 
vous for the day. The Sabbatarian was to speak in the morn- 
ing and a brother missionary who was with me, and myself, 
in the afternoon. 

So, to a small audience, as it happened, the man of the tent 
held forth with great vehemence, presenting his most marked 
peculiarities and challenging an answer. But controversy 
was avoided and he dismissed the meeting, evidently much 
chagrined at our apparently stupid indifference. 

It was our turn next. At the appointed hour the tent was 
well filled, and a most enthusiastic home missionary meeting 
was held, the discourses showing what God had wrought in 
this land in the planting of Christian churches, from Plymouth 
Rock to the mountain fastnesses and boundless prairies of the 
West. Hundreds, thousands of Christian churches and schools 
had been established, and the end was not yet. The audience 
seemed greatly interested, and when the time came to give a 
practical turn to the meeting, in imitation of the noble men 
and women who had gone before, in helping promote Chris- 
tianity and preserve our institutions of civil liberty, fifteen of 
the settlers of the new town arose and assented to the consti- 
tution and creed which they had chosen ; and so another band 
was added to the bright galaxy of churches that reached from 
the shores of New England to the pioneer homes of Dakota. 
No word of discourtesy to the courter of debate was uttered, 
and the Gospel rule of heaping coals of fire was so thoroughly 
followed, that the man soon left the town without a single 
convert. Then the reason for the delay in the organization of 
the little church of the prairie was seen. 



2IO GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

Being called to organize a church on an Indian reservation, 
in a small town which had sprung up, mushroom like, three 
hundred miles above, on the banks of the " Big Muddy," as it 
was sometimes called, I found that 4,000 yoke of oxen and 
1,500 span of mules and horses were continually engaged in 
freighting from this point to the Black Hill's. 

The people were of divers nationalities and " isms." Ameri- 
cans, Germans, Italians, French, Russians, Swedes, Norwe- 
gians, Bohemians, Irish, Indians and half-breeds were duly 
represented. All seemed in eager pursuit after the almighty 
dollar and appeared to care for but little else. 

Protestants, Catholics, Spiritualists, Adventists, Universal- 
ists, Infidels, Ingersollites, Liberals, Freethinkers, Freelovers 
and Nothingarians indicated the religious sentiments of the 
new town. The Sabbath was almost entirely disregarded. 

Former members of Christian churches and active work- 
ers in the Sabbath school had forgotten their vows to God, 
and were driving things with high pressure seven days 
in the week — more furiously, if possible, on the Lord's day 
than any other. Sometimes from a hundred to a thousand 
teams would be there at once, loading up and moving out, 
amid a perfect babble of noisy men, and braying donkeys, 
lowing oxen, pounding blacksmiths and carpenters, and this 
seemed a little more common on the Sabbath, if anything, 
than at other times. The tumult was so great on one occa- 
sion, that a minister who happened along and was holding 
a service was obliged to close the meeting before he had 
hardly commenced his sermon. 

But there was one Christian among that motley company 
who did not forget. She was a young lady from one of the 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 2 1 1 

mission churches of the Territory. Seeing the need of 
Christian work, though poor herself, and dependent upon 
her daily exertions for a livelihood, she had lumber shipped 
more than three hundred miles for a building, superintend- 
ing the work herself, and soon had a place where she gath- 
ered the children in a Sabbath school, working away quietly 
but persistently, amid the rough and seething elements that 
surrounded her. Searching out this earnest Christian toiler, 
I was soon introduced by her to every family in the place. 
All were invited to the services the next day, the Sabbath, 
and nearly all promised to be present. Two good meetings 
were held in the children's Sabbath school home, a church 
was organized, a preacher secured, the Sabbath soon began 
to be better observed, comparative order grew out of chaos, 
and this spiritual desert soon blossomed like the rose. 

It was announced in a new town one day, by posters in 
the stores and gambling tents, and on the sides of the trees, 
and in other conspicuous places, that there would be a relig- 
ious service in a grove just back of the town the next Sab- 
bath morning, at ten o'clock. It was the first gathering of 
the kind that had ever bee a held in the place, and when the 
time came, a hundred and fifty men or so assembled and 
seated themselves on the logs, and rocks, and ground, and 
waited for the preacher. The stump of a large tree had 
been smoothed off for a pulpit, and a Bible and hymn book 
secured, but where was the minister? 

"There he comes, I guess," said one and another, as a man 
approached in a sort of mining outfit, and yet with some- 
what the air of a preacher. And sure enough he was the 
man. 



2 1 2 GLEANINGS B Y THE WA V. 

As a hymn was read, all that could were requested to 
sing, and how that forest sanctuary resounded with God's 
praise. 

But while the meeting was going on, a little to the left was 
a sporting company, shooting at a mark. Just at the right 
were some men hauling logs with a yoke of oxen, rattling 
their heavy chains with the utmost indifference. A little to 
the rear were others nailing boards to a house. In another 
direction was loud and boisterous talking by a group of 
rough fellows. Right below a few rods the chinking of 
money in the gambler's tent was distinctly audible. Pres- 
ently a man came staggering up from a saloon a few rods 
below, and as he brushed by the minister, he exclaimed, 
"What, preaching here! I'd like to preach; is there no balm 
in Gilead? Is there no physician there?" when he stubbed 
his toe against a root and down he went, where he lay till 
the service ended, and was left sole possessor of the ground, 
as the audience dispersed. 

But, notwithstanding these side diversions, it was the be- 
ginning of a new era in the history of the place. It took 
the audience back to the old home churches, where, perhaps, 
the same prayer which was there sung was going up to the 
King of Heaven from fathers and mothers and other loved 
ones far away. The sermon was practical, pointed and ear- 
nest, and when the service closed, "Come again," said one 
and another, as they crowded up to shake hands with the 
preacher, and testify to an interest in his work. 

In a river and railroad town, furnishing special attractions 
to a large class of desperate fellows, who are quick to scent 
out such openings, the night before my visit to the place, a 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 2 I 3 

dispute arose between two young men in a dance house, 
when both of them drew their pistols, and the first to fire 
shot the other through the heart, killing him instantly. 
About three hours, and the body of the murdered man was 
hurried off to a dishonored grave on the side of a hill near 
by, and the better part of the people seemed to regard it as 
a good riddance, for both men were desperate characters. 
The chief regret appeared to be that both did not share the 
same fate. No arrest of the murderer was made, and the 
next day he was all about the streets, puffing his cigar with 
as much unconcern as if he had only shot a mad dog. 

A short time after this, as he resisted the authorities, who 
were trying to arrest him for some misdemeanor, he was 
surrounded by the "Night Guards," a sort of vigilance com- 
mittee, formed for the protection of peaceable citizens, and 
eighteen shots were simultaneously fired at him, sixteen 
piercing his body, and so ridding the community of another 
desperado, to the joy of all lovers of peace and good order. 

Tributary to this point another town suddenly started up, 
mushroom like — eleven buildings going up in one week — 
among them one public house, one dwelling house, one store 
and eight saloons. Before I had hardly landed at this place, 
a creature, calling herself a woman, appeared, riding on her 
horse man fashion, and showing the most brazen demeanor. 
She dashed through the streets furiously, touching her wide- 
rimmed slouch hat, and saluting the gaping crowd with all 
the self-possession imaginable. A little farther on were two 
men pretty well "over the seas," and, apparently wishing to 
create a sensation, one of them pulled off his hat and held it 
up at full length, while the other man, reeling and cursing, 



214 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

drew his revolver and put through it several bullet holes; 
both men using their pistols with about as little caution as 
children woufd their potato popguns. 

It was good missionary ground surely. 

While returning homeward some time after this, six Indian 
warriors, Brule Sioux, were brought aboard the boat at one 
of the agencies. They were said to have stolen some horses 
and killed a white man. The poetic names of these gentle- 
men were, Turning Bear, Gray Dog, Bad Thunder, Bear 
Man, Horned Horse, and Two Calves. They were decked 
out with paint and feathers and the gayest kind of fixings, ■ 
and guarded by a dozen colored soldiers. They did not look 
like very bad men, and certainly were no worse than the 
murderous and drunken whites that swarm in many frontier 
towns, though they had been born and brought up in sav- 
agery. 

A few miles further, and another Indian, a half or quarter 
breed, was brought aboard a prisoner, charged with killing 
somebody. 

What but the Gospel will suffice for the lifting up of such 
degraded humanity wherever found? 



CHAPTER XII. 

Wonderful Railroad Building — A Nation Born in a Day — All Kinds — The 
Famous Hunters — Young Plowmen — Hunting Chickens by Railroad 
— Another Little Boy's Prayer Answered — Christmas Present — Lost 
Book — Happy Overrulings — Church Building — Journeying under 
Difficulties — Prayer Answered — Hard to Get and Keep Men — Ask- 
ing God — Forward — March — Halt. 

In the James river valley, as one would naturally say in 
New England — in the Jim, as they would say out there — 
fifteen hundred miles of railroad were projected, and nine 
hundred miles of it completed, in a single year, and this 
through regions comparatively unknown twelve months be- 
fore. It was marvelous to see how the work went forward. 
Great, mammoth machines were used, to each of which were 
attached twelve span of mules or horses, these machines tear- 
ing into the ground and throwing up an embankment for a 
railroad bed for more than a hundred miles in length, while 
in other places squads of men worked with their plows and 
scrapers. Once in about a dozen miles a town site was pro- 
jected. Depots, hotels, stores, saloons, blacksmith shops, 
carpenter shops, dwelling houses and the like went up like 
magic. 

For the time being, great railroad kings seemed to rule in 
those new regions, and everybody cheerfully submitted to the 
new order of things. 

At a point similar to scores of places, the sanctuary for the 
Sabbath was a little rough structure of one room, containing 



2l6 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

a bed, a cooking stove and a family of five persons, while it 
served as a public house also, where no less than thirty or 
forty people took their meals, and eight or ten men crowded 
up to their bunks for the night in a little attic so low that 
they could not begin to stand up straight, and where railroad 
magnates, homesteaders, bricklayers, carpenters, well diggers 
and missionary packed themselves away for sleep and rest, 
all good natured, and all glad to get as good quarters as this, 
even. 

It was a wonderful departure in the settling up of a new 
country. The most gigantic railroad building, with nothing 
but the right of way, which sometimes had to be purchased, 
went in advance of civilization, and challenged the world to 
come and select free farms where a market was furnished 
before there was time to raise a crop, and where facilities for 
a speedy transit to the great centers of the East were pro- 
vided at once. 

Thus suddenly did the engine whistle wake the prairies 
where hitherto the Indian war whoop and the crack of the 
red man's rifle had been the principal music. 

Surely a nation was born in a day. The wild prairies 
quickly blossomed like the rose. 

The ground strewn with the bleaching bones of the buf- 
falo soon exhibited fruitful fields of wheat and corn; and 
the antelope and deer gave way to herds of cattle and flocks 
of sheep. 

Thousands of farms were everywhere taken, as a gift from 
Uncle Sam. On the day of the opening of a new land office, 
200,500 acres of land were entered. At another office, 16,000 
acres were entered for two days in succession, 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 3 1 7 

Towns sprang up as if by magic. Little claim houses and 
sod shanties dotted over vast regions comparatively unknown 
six months before. Men selected their lands of as rich soil 
as the sun ever shone on right by the side of magnificent 
railroads, in many instances close to well-built depots. 

At an extemporized meeting, where thirteen men had 
gathered at an Irishman's shanty, storm bound while jour- 
neying, it was found that ten States, Louisiana, Kentucky 
and Tennessee being among them, were represented, and 
nearly as many religious faiths, while, as to politics, Repub- 
licans, Democrats and Greenbackers were all there. 

Sabbath desecration, intemperance and general lawlessness 
naturally abounded more or less under such circumstances, 
and yet probably no country was ever settled up with so 
good a class of people as a whole. While nearly all the 
nations of the earth, and nearly all religions and politics 
were represented, the genuine Anglo-American element was 
a large and dominant factor in that heterogeneous mass of 
humanity, and, under the Gospel and the Christian school, 
with the blessing of God, was able to permeate the whole 
body, and build up a mighty State, loyal to the King of 
Heaven. 

Many of the peoples who went into those newly-opening 
regions were intelligent, wide-awake peoples, had seen much 
of the world, were no strangers to culture, and were versed 
in many of the arts and sciences, while some of them were 
graduates of the higher schools and universities of this and 
other lands. There were not many like the two famous 
hunters, represented as saying, when asked if there were any 
Presbyterians about there, that they "didn't think there were 



2 15 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

any of them critters in the mountains; they hadn't shot any 
of them," evidently supposing that a Presbyterian was some 
kind of a wild animal. No; most of the people were well 
informed, intellectually, at least, touching moral and religious 
things, as well as those of agriculture, mining, hunting, and 
other matters of interest pertaining to the country. 

It was an interesting sight to see two young plowmen, 
fresh from the field, take their respective places at the piano, 
one of the cherished articles retained as they went forth from 
the great city to retrieve their fortunes, and play and sing 
with a dignity and grace that would have put to the blush 
many a pretender, who very likely a moment before would 
have pronounced these young fellows, with their callous 
hands and their heavy plow boots, and living in a sod house, 
too, as nothing but miserable clodhoppers. 

Surely the best men, the ablest men, and men well 
equipped, with a house to live in and a comfortable support, 
were needed in the very outset to toil in such fields. And 
yet, sad to say, it was often true that there was no church 
building, no parsonage, and a starvation kind of salary. 

As I was the only passenger on the train of a new rail- 
road one day, and a "dead head" at that, the president of the 
road having sent me a free pass for the year a few days be- 
fore, I felt for the moment that a great railroad corporation 
was giving me a whole train to myself, as I was going about 
the country to help forward the Lord's work. The passage 
of scripture which speaks of kings and queens as "nursing 
fathers and mothers" in the days of the millenium, came to 
mind. But we had gone only two or three stations when 
another man and two boys got aboard, and after a little the 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 2 1 9 

conductor came around and said, pointing to a little knoll at 
the right, "Boys, I think there are some prairie chickens 
over there; I'll stop the train and try to shoot some of them 
if you'll get out and scare them up," to which we agreed, and 
in a moment, six nice, plump chickens were brought down. 
A few miles further, and the conductor came again, and said : 
"Boys" — both of the men were old enough to be his father — 
"Boys, boys!" he said, as his eyes sparkled with delight at 
the prospect, " I think there are more chickens just over there 
a little way," pointing to the left ; " shall we try it again, boys ? " 
"Yes," we said, and this time four beautiful birds were shot. 

It was a queer style of railroading, and the thought of 
"kings and queens as nursing fathers and mothers" was 
somewhat dissipated by the crack and smoke of the con- 
ductor's shot gun, though I was grateful for a free pass, and 
used it as best I could to help forward the King's work. 

This road was soon well patronized, and did not longer 
rely upon one poor, unpaying missionary as its sole passen- 
ger for a part of the way, or even upon hunting prairie 
chickens as a matter of profit to the stockholders or pastime 
to the sportsmanlike conductor. 

In an out-station Sabbath school, at one time, the super- 
intendent was very sick. Several doctors had been to see 
him, and he had taken a good deal of medicine, yet without 
help. He thought he must die. He could eat nothing, and 
was very nervous and restless. 

One night as his little boy, four years of age, knelt and 
prayed, as he always did before going to bed, he remained on 
his knees a moment after finishing his prayer, and then turn- 
ing to his father a pitiful look, he asked, "Are you very sick, 



220 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

"Yes, my son, I'm very sick." 

"Can't the doctors and the medicines make you well, 
papa?" 

"No, my child," was the answer. 

"Well," he said, still remaining on his knees, "I'll ask God 
to cure you;" and, closing his eyes, he very deliberately 
prayed: "O God, my dear papa is very sick; please make my 
papa well again, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen." 

Immediately rising up, he bade his father good night, and 
was soon in his bed fast asleep. 

"From that moment," said the father, as he was telling 
the story, "I began to get better, and am now well and 
strong. I believe the Lord heard that prayer and restored 
me." 

In another school, a little girl found Christ, and wished her 
father to become a Christian, too. But he was not interested 
in the least. He did not even attend Sabbath school or 
church. He was willing his little girl should go, and would 
sometimes give her pennies to put into the contribution 
box, but that was all. As Christmas drew near, this little 
girl wanted to make her father a present, and so she worked 
a beautiful motto with different kinds of bright colors, using 
the words she had learned in the Sabbath school: "In God is 
our trust;" and, getting it framed, she put it on the Christ- 
mas tree for her father. He was much pleased with it, be- 
cause it was the work of his little daughter. As she carried 
it home, she gave it the best place in the house, and kept 
it always in sight. 

A few weeks passed, and while this little girl was praying 
that her father might become a Christian, so as to have the 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 22 i 

motto as true in his case as it was in her's, all of a sudden 
the father was taken ill, and confined to the house and bed 
for several days. 

But the Christmas gift of his child was continually before 
him. 

One day, rising up from his bed very suddenly, he said to his 
wife: "We're acting a lie all the time; that motto up there," 
pointing to it, as the tears came to his eyes, "says, 'In God is 
our trust.' Now," he said, "let us make that motto true;" 
and he began to pray from that very time. He became a 
sincere Christian. The prayers of his child were answered, 
and the Christmas present helped accomplish what she 
wanted. The father went to the Sabbath school and church. 
He read the Bible and prayed every day. A few weeks, 
and father, mother and child stood up together in the house 
of God, and professing Christ, united with His church. 

How significant was that bright motto as it hung on the wall 
at home, telling how God hears the prayers of children when 
they seek Him with faith and good works, as this little girl 
did. 

Another bright pet in still a different field had lost her 
school book — a book full of beautiful pictures and pleasant 
stories. She hunted all over the house, and in the wood 
shed, and out in the yard, and down by the brook where she 
sometimes played, but could find nothing of it. Meeting 
her pastor about this time, a kind-hearted man, whose face 
was always full of sunshine, and whom the children loved 
dearly, she ran up to him and said, "Grandpa" — they all 
called him "grandpa" — "I've lost my book, and I can't find 
it anywhere." 



222 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

"Have you looked for it?" he said. "Have you been out 
to the barn and down by the brook? have you looked all 
about the yard ? " 

"Yes," she said, "I've looked everywhere; what shall I do, 
grandpa?" 

"You must ask the Lord to help you find it." 

On hearing this, she ran into the house and said to her 
mother, who sat there sewing : 

"Mother, grandpa says I must ask the Lord to help me 
find my book. Do you think He would help me if I should 
ask Him? " 

"Perhaps He would," the mother said, and she immediately 
knelt down by the side of her mother and asked Him. 

And as she said Amen, an exultant cry was heard in another 
room, and in bounded her little brother, saying, "I've found 
it! I've found it!" and the faith of pastor, mother and child 
was greatly strengthened. After that, they could all sing 
with a little more feeling than usual: 

"What a friend we have in Jesus, 
All our sins and griefs to bear, 
What a privilege to carry 
Every thing to Him in prayer. ' ' 

Caught in a severe storm, a hundred miles from a railroad 
and three hundred miles from the place of destination, it be- 
came a question how to get through in time, the importance 
of which never had seemed so great before. The stage was 
late. The only way was to wait. Two hours, four hours, 
twelve o'clock, and no stage came. It was a howling night. 
The wind blew with unusual fury, and the little shanty 
shook before the blasts of the northwest. The snow began 
to fall, and before daylight it seemed almost like a first-class 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 223 

blizzard. So, expecting to be domiciled there for another 
day, and trying to be as reconciled as possible, all of a sudden 
the old-fashioned stage horn was heard, and up came a two- 
horse buckboard, covered with snow and ice, and with seat- 
ing room for only one passenger, who was already aboard. 

" Is that the best you can do to-day ? " it was asked. 

"The very best, and I'm afraid I can't get through in this 
way. 

If I ever prayed, I'm sure I did then. 

"But I want to go very much; I must go, if possible," I 
said. 

The man immediately drove away, saying, "I'll be back 
directly, and see what can be done." A few moments, and 
up he drove, with the shout, "All aboard for the East!" and, 
sure enough, he had hired a double-seated platform Stude- 
baker, and in two days, twice the usual time, the depot was 
reached. But here it was found that the railroad was blocked 
up. Would it be open the next day ? Nobody knew. 

While waiting in hope, the day was spent in the new town 
planning for the building of a church, which, contrary to the 
expectations of the man who was then supplying, met with 
a very hearty response from the people, and so encouraged 
the poor man, that as there was no prospect of removing the 
blockade for a week, he undertook to drive with me over the 
country one hundred and fifty miles, so as to be at the meet- 
ing, though a little late in getting there. But the roads were 
fearful, and grew worse and worse. 

At the end of the first day's drive it was deemed expedient 
for the team and my companion in travel to return. So, by 
taking the stage, a strong two-horse lumber wagon, over 



224 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

horrible roads, with two changes of horses, forty miles were 

made late in the evening of the same day. 

The next morning, by a freight car on a new railroad just 
opening, forty miles more were made. Thirty miles yet re- 
mained, and if this could be made by night, it would only 
leave me twenty-four hours late for the meeting. 

Hope dawned. 

Would the stage go? 

Not a bit of it. All the money of a poor missionary surely 
was no inducement. 

Could a livery team be hired? 

No; not for half the price of such a team. 

If any one wonders, let him encounter the slush, and mud, 
and snow, and swollen streams of the fag end of a Dakota 
blizzard, a little while after the barometer begins to fall and 
the sky throws off its thick, gray covers. There was no 
way of getting another mile, to all appearances. 

But how instructive are the Lord's plans! 

At exactly one o'clock and thirty minutes P. M., a team 
drove up on the opposite side of the street, and a fellow- 
traveler in the stage the day before, a tobacco-chewing, 
cigar-smoking, whiskey-drinking, round-faced, jolly chap, 
called out in his roistering way: 

"Hello, there, friend! you man in the carriage over there; 
are you going to the Falls in that rig?" 

"I propose to try it," was the answer. 

"Well, my good fellow, here's a man who wants to go 
very much; come, now, take him in, turn round your estab- 
lishment, drive up here like a gentleman and take him along, 
and show a little magnanimity once in your life." 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 225 

And without another word, to the astonishment of every- 
one, he responded, and I was soon on my way. 

Just at lamp lighting the place was reached, and that very 
night it was revealed that as good Father N was lead- 
ing the meeting in prayer, at precisely the hour of this strange 
introduction to the man in the carriage across the street, he 
very earnestly asked that I might get to the meeting that 
night. What an answer to prayer, and what unlooked-for 
agents the Lord may use! 

It so happened that nine of the men supplying churches 
under my care almost simultaneously left their charges; one 
for beating his wife, one for drunkenness, one for taking an 
active part in a public ball in a frontier town, boasting of his 
skill at gambling, and other things, et cetera, one for sick- 
ness, and the rest for providential' reasons of various kinds. 

From ten to fifteen churches were thus left without sup- 
ply, at nearly the same time. It was very difficult to get 
men to fill these vacancies, and to take up new points con- 
tinually opening. Inadequate support, long distances from 
home, a section of the country then little known, and other 
kindred causes hindered. 

When, after most strenuous endeavors, on half a dozen or 
more occasions, it seemed almost certain that good men had 
been secured, by the very train that was to bring them, word 
would be sent that they could not come. Some place nearer 
home had offered larger inducements, or something else pre- 
vented. " Truly the harvest was great, the laborers few." 

But all of a sudden, a whisper, as it were from the source 
of all available power, seemed to say, "Ask God." 
— J 5 



226 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

Did not the Master teach, "Pray without ceasing," and 
"Pray ye therefore the Lord of the Harvest"? 

Take the King at His word. 

The subject was presented at the church prayer meeting, 
and elicited deep feeling and earnest supplication. It was 
carried home to think of and pray over. From this time, an 
assurance that the need would be supplied took the place of 
great anxiety, if not of absolute doubt. Almost immediately, 
applications began to come for work at the frontier, and nine 
new men, choice and good, came one after another, to occupy 
important and long-waiting fields. Surely the Lord hears 
His people. But twelve other places were in equal want, and 
in a short time as many men had offered themselves, six or 
eight from the graduating class of Yale Theological Semi- 
nary, where such an enthusiasm was created among the stu- 
dents, through letters and circulars and reports sent them, 
that Dr. Bacon remarked in the class one day, as a student 
wrote at the time, " If this thing continues much longer, it 
will add fifty thousand dollars to the home missionary treas- 
ury. 

And now, with arrangements partly made for this new in- 
crease of missionary force, an unexpected voice was heard, 
"Go work in the great harvest field, where the Utes and the 
Idahoes used to roam unmolested by the civilizations of Chris- 
tian white men," one of the fairest portions of our great do- 
main, as to climate and soil, but cursed by the wreaking filth 
of Mormonism, defiant of civil authority, and insulting to 
high heaven. 

As the voice was about to be obeyed it was countermanded, 
and so I continued longer to work in the land of the Dakotas. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Around the Circle — Hotel Tent — Steamer General Rucker — Soliloquy — 
Crowning Glory. 

A swing around the circle — The first day: Eighty-five 
miles by stage; stuck in the mud once, but with the horses 
hitched to the end of the pole by a chain, and the shoulders 
to the wheels, were soon released. 

Second day: Went by stage twenty-five miles; helped one 
unfortunate freighter out of the mud, and rode in the rain most 
of the way ; eight names secured to the pledge for a church 
organization, and rooms in the depot engaged for the new 
minister. 

Third clay: Rode in a severe wind, so cold and penetrating 
that a heavy buffalo overcoat was very timely ; took a boat 
across the river, as the bridge was washed away by the spring 
freshets; hired a livery for twenty miles, and reached the new 
town about night; made several calls on parties interested in 
missionary work, and retired to the realms of Morpheus about 
midnight. 

Fourth day: Disappointed in not catching a construction 
train, and so was compelled to wear out the weary hours by 
waiting, rendered still more weary by the uninterrupted driz- 
zling rain. The monotony was broken, after dinner, with a 
little music from the violin and organ, played by two young 
men boarding at the public house. Just at nightfall the 



228 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

clouds broke away, and a wild-cat train brought relief. On 

reaching Junction, it was announced that the train 

would go no farther that night, and so we camped down in 
the car, in preference to a contest with fleas, and worse 
things, etc., that are so apt to assert their rights at frontier 
hotels. 

Fifth day: Went on fifteen miles by rail, and hired a 
farmer's rig to go thirty miles farther; met the first fruits 
of the "Yale Dakota Band," a man and wife, who gave their 
adventures by the way, amid perils of waters and mud, and 
bloodthirsty insects, which seem to have a terrible spite 
against frontier missionaries. 

Sixth day: Rested from the journey, and attended the 
Sabbath services in the beautiful, self-supporting church of 
the thriving city, where, on my visit a few years before, but 
two professing Christians could be found. 

Seventh day: By stage and ferry boat reached the city, in 
spite of getting stuck in the mud once, and getting out of 
the vehicle four times to lighten the coach and save similar 
mishaps, in the twenty-four miles; selected lots for the build- 
ing of a church, and rented a house for the new worker; at 
night took a train twenty miles, arriving at two o'clock, in a 
pouring rain, and resorted to the miserable apology of a 
hotel, dirty and desolate, but the only refuge that opened to 
the tired missionary. 

Eighth day: Obtained ten pledges to a church organiza- 
tion, and went on by rail twenty miles; met a number of 
young men and women anxious to organize a church of their 
choice, and they pledged liberal help to their spiritual leader 
and guide. 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 229 

Ninth day: Secured a commodious hall for public services, 
and obtained twenty pledges to start in the new missionary 
organization; at night took a freight train, and reached the 
place of rendezvous precisely at three o'clock the next morn- 
ing, getting two hours of sleep in good, comfortable quar- 
ters. 

Tenth day : Took the stage twenty miles, and was stuck 
in the mud once on the way. 

Eleventh day: Took the train 175 miles, passing one fear- 
ful wreck of freight cars, and carefully creeping over several 
temporary bridges, supplying those recently washed away by 
the freshets and overflows of the early spring. 

Twelfth day: Went on by rail 200 miles, and with no mis- 
hap reached the new town in good season, and persuaded the 
minister to reconsider his resolution to quit the field, and re- 
main and finish the beautiful church which had been com- 
menced. 

Thirteenth day: Rode 250 miles by rail, and reached the 
missionary chamber, for a little rest, at three o'clock in the 
morning. 

Fourteenth day: Attended a meeting for the location of a 
Christian college, Yankton being chosen, by unanimous vote, 
as the best place for such an institution. 

Fifteenth day: Took a box car on a construction train, and 
reached the stopping place for the night in a pouring rain; 
took supper, and went to bed in the rough hotel, spending 
the night in thoughts of sleep, and speculations as to why 
certain creatures that sometimes infest sleeping apartments 
were made, supposing that nothing was made in vain; did 
not reach a satisfactory answer. 



230 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

Sixteenth day: Took another construction train, sent out 
to repair the damages of recent tremendous rains and ex- 
temporized rushing rivers, and dragged along over ten miles 
very cautiously and slowly, meeting at length a team, and 
hiring the owner to turn about and take the anxious pas- 
senger to the river; overtaken at night by another fearful 
outpouring of the clouds; took shelter under the roof of a 
Russian settler, whose house and barns were in such close 
proximity as to give the full benefit of the strong odors that 
came up from the fresh heaps of barnyard compost; took 
supper, bread and milk, without any spoons, and camped on 
the floor, perfectly satisfied with the vote to make an early 
start in the morning. 

Seventeenth day: Drove on with the German teamster 
fifteen miles; reached the railroad river bridge; footed it 
over; walked five miles, and hired a team for thirty miles, 
over roads marked with horrible sloughs and deep, bridge- 
less streams, the result of recent rains and overflows. 

Eighteenth day: Rode all day, till ten o'clock at night, 
when "home, sweet home," greeted me. 

The life of a pioneer home missionary superintendent is 
filled up with such swings around the circle as this. How 
would you like it? Glorious, isn't it! 

While waiting a few days at a frontier town on the Mis- 
souri river, the best accommodations provided were an apol- 
ogy, even, for a shanty, with a miserable tent as a sleeping 
place. As this, very naturally, leaked in divers places, "de- 
cidedly dampened," was the term of frequent and appropriate 
use. A more full description of this memorable resting place 
would run somewhat thus: Pitched on the lee side of the 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 231 

roughest kind of a shanty, eight months before; in the tent 
were four beds, so called; the bed ticks, one man positively 
affirmed, must have been stuffed with the hay that came from 
the ark just after Noah landed on Mount Ararat; the slats of 
the bed were pretty sure to fall out, and let their occupants 
down, just as sweet sleep was about to dissipate the cares of 
the day; in one corner of the tent was a rusty stovepipe, 
with several specimens of battered tinware, and old boxes 
and barrels that looked as if they might have been used by 
the family that survived the flood, and then have gone 
through the wars of the Crusades, the Revolution, the Re- 
bellion, and, finally, the blizzards and overflows of the mem- 
orable winter of 18S1; in another corner were several rag 
carpets, worse worn than some that the wives of home mis- 
sionaries, by varied patchings and piecings, must metamor- 
phose into new ones, or go on bare floors; all the dirt 
accumulated from the beginning was still there; old bits of 
rags, old shoes, musty and mould covered, old bottles and 
axle-grease boxes, were scattered about; several setting hens 
found places in tobacco kegs under the beds; a number of 
rusty chains, that one man was very confident might have 
been used by Methuselah, and several overalls that looked as 
if they might have been worn in the digging of wells by the 
servants of Abraham, were hanging upon the tent pole; 
innumerable fleas and bed bugs, that had waxen fat and 
flourishing, made some very decided impressions. Add to 
all this, frequent and violent rains, and just a little idea is 
gathered of the sleeping place provided for five mortal 
nights. 

The bare fact that my corner chanced to be a little better 



232 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

protected than the others, accounts for a few dry shreds after 
a fearful rain one night. With the rest of the company, six 
in all, "decidedly wet," was the only fitting term. Presently 
one man got up and dressed himself, exchanging wet bed- 
ding for wet coat, pants and boots, and after getting off some 
pretty good jokes about life in the far West, he lit his pipe 
and had a smoke, feigning to whistle a little between some of 
the puffs on his meerschaum and the sharp flashes of light- 
ning that darted like chains of fire through the canvas bed 
room. 

But oh, the joy of the next morning! 

A large steamer was seen plowing its way up the river, and 
settling up my bill at a dollar a day for my sumptuous fare in 
the shanty and tent, I rushed down to the bank and waited 
the arrival of the welcome messenger. After a little while 
it began to rain, and soon got to pouring, and poured, and 
poured, and poured, for more than an hour before the boat 
landed. " Most emphatically drenched," was the word ! Grip 
sack and everything in it were sopping wet! But fairly on 
board the boat, by the help of the seething smoke pipe, the 
moisture began to give way, and by the aid of the water, wash 
bowl and one slazy towel, much of the rich sediment of the 
Missouri river, and the adhesions of the old antediluvian-like 
tent disappearing, the spontaneous outburst was, " Clean 
again!" Comparatively speaking it was thus, though no 
very extra touches were attempted, and mud-glazed collars 
and cuffs, for want of others, still remained. Clean sheets 
and a decent bunk on the Gen. H. D. Rucker! It was like a 
sudden translation, hyperbolically speaking, from a sin-cursed 
world, to the realms of celestial glory. 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 233 

What wonder at the slight tinge of independence and 
glorification in the soliloquy, "Rain away now, what do I care? 
you can't even disturb my sleep, however much you try, pro- 
tected as I now am by one of the large crafts of the mighty 
father of waters." 

But the crowning glory was the beginning of a Christian 
church, with the standards that ruled in the Mayflower, and 
the religious sentiments of good old New England, that 
mightiest factor in helping make the Nation intelligent, wise 
and pure for the ages to come, while its reflected light shall 
girdle the great globe itself, and redeemed souls in heaven 
shall shout their glad hallelujahs of thanksgiving and praise. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Destructive Ice Gorge — Brave Young Men — -Fruits of Missions. 

At the breaking up of the Missouri river, the longest stream 
in the world I believe, in the spring of 1881, the high water 
and the immense masses of floating ice, with the formation of 
tremendous ice gorges at different points, produced the most 
fearful havoc along the settlements of the lowlands, and sadly 
interfered with the missionary work in many places. When 
the ice began to run and the snows to melt, a fearful tide of 
destruction and death came pouring down through the coun- 
try for hundreds of miles in length. 

Mighty ice blocks, some of them acres in extent, and 
weighing hundreds of tons, mowed through forests of tim- 
ber, battering down strong buildings, overwhelming thou- 
sands of beasts, and literally burying everything in the way 
beneath their cold, jagged, ponderous shapes. Churches, 
school houses, hotels, dwelling houses, depots, lumber, wood, 
machinery, farming implements, steamboats, yawls, skiffs, 
cattle, horses, swine, hay stacks, and large trees wrenched up 
by the roots, were caught by this mighty tide and swallowed 
up, as on, and on, and on the resistless current swept, with 
new accumulations and unrelenting fury. Literally and ab- 
solutely wiped out, was the least that could be said of some 
towns, where a little before thrift and security and hope 
prevailed. 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 235 

At one point, more than fifteen miles of railroad were sub- 
merged, and much of it destroyed. Telegraph wires were 
broken down, the mails interrupted, and communication with 
the outside world for several weeks was well nigh cut off. 
At a short bend in the river, a little below Yankton, a mighty 
gorge of ice was formed, fifty feet high, fifteen miles wide, 
and sixty miles in length, turning the water from the old 
channel, and spreading it out over more than two hundred 
thousand acres of bottom lands, which were filled up with 
monstrous pieces of ice, while the water was eight to ten 
feet deep. 

Thousands of people were rendered homeless, and the gain 
of yeai-s was swept away in an hour. Property valued at 
millions of dollars was destroyed. 

At one place, over eighty buildings went off in a single 
day. Many people clung to wrecks of buildings or floating 
timbers for two or three days before they could be rescued. 
One house, with ten people on the roof, floated about five 
miles, halted at a town just long enough for its riders to es- 
cape, and starting on, was soon out of sight. 

A few young men, by more than two weeks' exposure 
amid the ice and water, wet, cold, hungry and weary, saved 
over eight hundred people. 

One noble fellow, with his little boat built by himself a few 
days before, and almost prophetically named the "Refuge," 
plunged into the water, amid acres of floating debris, and 
mountains of ice, determined to save his neighbors, or perish, 
if need be, in the attempt. Now jumping from one piece of 
ice to another, and holding on to his boat, and now clinging 
to the side of some tree above the water, till great clumps of 



236 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

ice, through which he could not force his way, had passed, and 
now hurled into the cold stream by some unpropitious glacier 
floating down just in time to intercept him, he saved more 
than forty persons. This he did, not only at the great ex- 
posure of his own life, but the sacrifice of all his property — 
several thousand dollars — the fruit of hard years of toil and 
careful industry. 

Surely the heroes live in every age! Never did ancient 
Greece exhibit anything more grand. The Spartan youth, 
fired with a love of fame, and taught to despise a coward, 
were small in comparison. Stanley, in his most perilous 
tours through Africa, never exhibited truer courage. 

These men were among the first fruits of a little mission- 
ary church, as others, alike valiant, were of other churches. 

And don't missions pay? Isn't it worth while to send the 
Gospel to such men? 

The missionary's church building may be washed away by 
the floods, or crushed to pieces by the ice, and his flock be 
scattered to the four quarters of the globe, but the eternal 
ages will bear witness to the glory of his work in the sav- 
ing of such men. 

What undertaking is so grand as this? What expense is 
too great for it? 



CHAPTER XV. 

Black Hills — The Conveyance — Gumbo — Freighters — Milages and Cities 

— Deadw-ood — Rapid City — Living under the Ground — Road Agents 

— Rapid G row t h — S urn m ary . 

The Black Hills. 

Why black ? 

Because, from the pine trees with which they are covered, 
and in contrast with the open prairie, they look dark as they 
first appear to the traveler, jutting up as they do like a great 
spur, and visible for more than fifty miles. 

At the terminus of the railroad, three hundred miles above 
Yankton, on the " grandfather of waters," as it might be 
called, in contrast with the Mississippi, the conveyance was 
a strong, mammoth coach, drawn by four spirited horses, and 
having comfortable seating room for nine passengers, besides 
space on top for half a dozen more, if need be. 

Twenty-five dollars purchased a seat for a two-hundred- 
mile jaunt over the great Indian reservation, and thirty-eight 
hours wei'e consumed in the journey. Every thirty miles 
brought two relays of horses, and, with hardly time to alight, 
we hurried on to the next point. Good eating houses were 
established at convenient distances, and there was no lack to 
the hungry ones without the need of a lunch basket. 

The first twenty miles was through a kind of gumbo, op- 
erating when wet very much as soft putty would, were one 
to go through it, showing a stickiness so vicious as hardly to 
be surpassed by tar and feathers. 



238 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

After the gumbo, long trains of freighters were objects of 
interest. A brief summary of such a train would be, say 
twenty oxen, about ten yoke each, attached to three heavy, 
canvas-covered wagons, firmly coupled together and con- 
trolled by one man, these twenty bovines being skillfully 
managed with the driver's mighty whip, of lavish dimen- 
sions. This one equipment multiplied by twenty, four hun- 
dred oxen and sixty wagons, made. a train, as it slowly moved 
along, transporting freight of all kinds to the Black Hills. 
Every ox was supposed to know his name, and the theory 
was, not to whip the faithful creature, more and better serv- 
ice being found to accrue without the whipping than with it. 
The crack of the lash, which sounded like a pistol under the 
manipulations of the expert, was sufficient, so that the terms 
"bull whacker" and "mule skinner" were anomalous, only 
as applied to less progressive and more brutal drivers, of 
whom a sufficient number still remained. 

But what was our surprise to find all of a sudden that our 
journey was through villages and populous cities, instead of 
over an uninhabited waste, as had been supposed, and how 
chagrined we were, notwithstanding the truth that our coun- 
try was the asylum for the oppressed of all lands, when we 
found that the dwellers in these populous towns, the prairie 
dogs, harbored in their homes even the owl and the rattle- 
snake, with whom they are said to live on the most friendly 
terms. 

When night came, as the stage kept going, we at length 
began to drowse and nod, and diligently continued this till 
morning. Though we got a few little snatches of rest and 
sleep, yet, because of needing more, we kept doing the same 
thing nearly all the next day. 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 239 

Ten o'clock the following evening brought us to far-famed 
Deadwood, the metropolis, unsurpassed by its activities, up 
to this time, as an outfitting station for nearly all the towns 
of the Hills. 

A home missionary held the fort at this head center .of 
commingling forces, good, bad, and fierce beyond measure. 
A spirited prayer meeting the next evening showed the faith 
and zeal of the good people, who had got their religion over 
the rivers and across the plains, to the mountains and the 
mines. 

At Rapid, one of the gateways of the Hills, forty-five 
miles from Deadwood, was a home missionary, once under 
the American Board in India. The site of the town was a 
beautiful one, in a vast fertile plain, good for stock and farm- 
ing purposes, as were other cities of the Hills, most of which 
were surrounded on three sides by mountains, and on the 
other side showed wide, extensive plains of thousands of 
acres adapted to agriculture and stock raising. Large herds 
of cattle had found their way into those regions, and hun- 
dreds of farmers had taken up their homesteads. 

Nearly half the people in the Hills lived under the ground, 
digging out the precious ores and bringing them up into 
the great smelting and reduction works, where other busy 
workers toiled day and night to separate the good from the 
bad. 

A fellow passenger gave a very vivid description of his 
experience with "road agents," as the highwaymen of those 
regions were called a few years ago. 

"There were three of these desperadoes," he said, "who 
were thoroughly masked and well armed. One of these paid 



240 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

his attention to the driver, who did not care to parley very 
much with the cut throats, and so he remained quiet while 
the other two plundered the mail sacks and robbed the pas- 
sengers. My loss," said the man, « was $500, and as I plead 
with the villain to leave me at least five dollars to carry me 
through the day," he exclaimed with a fearful oath: 

" No, I wont ! I want that to go to State's prison with next 
winter." 

And sure enough he was soon afterwards arrested and sent 
for a term of ten years. 

"I'm sure you wont be so ungentlemanly as to rob a wo- 
man," said the only lady passenger, to which he replied: 

" Well, I'm not very much on etiquette, just now, and if you 
have any money, and I can find it, I'm bound to have it." 

Searching her all over, and not finding the coveted prize, 
as he was about to leave the coach, he suddenly turned back 
and said: 

"I've known women to conceal money in their hair." 
And giving her waterfall a rude shake, out dropped a roll 
of bills, a hundred and sixty-five dollars. Having made a 
clean job, they mounted their horses, discharged each a sin- 
gle shot into the air, and told the driver to go on. 

At a point where a new mine had been discovered, a town 
was suddenly laid out, and in less than forty-eight hours from 
five hundred to a thousand people were there. On the third 
day, nine saloons were in operation, a couple of faro banks 
were opened, and several restaurants started; while on the 
fourth day morning, a newspaper was issued, and in less than 
two weeks, more than fifty buildings had been erected and a 
dozen mining companies organized to develop the country 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 24 1 

adjacent to this marvelous mine, significantly, perhaps, called 
the "Bengal Tiger," and very likely to devour many an un- 
wary meddler, if not to drive out a whole community. 

Of the Black Hills country as a whole, it may be said, 
"It's a gem, set with emeralds." Its beautiful and rich parks, 
so finely adapted to agriculture and grazing, are certain to 
have a large and permanent population, to say nothing of 
the mines, many of which are unsurpassed in richness and, 
to all appearance, in the abundance of paying ores. 

" It's the best stock country in the world," said a fellow pas- 
senger. "I've had several hundred head of cattle there now 
for two years. They look nicely in the spring, after living 
out all winter and taking care of themselves. I have thirty 
thousand head in the Indian Territory and Kansas, and [ pro- 
pose to rush them into the Hills as speedily as possible." 

And could the King's servants be too wide awake in their 
missionary and educational endeavors at such points, where 
the Gospel and the school are needed from the very begin- 
ning? 



—16 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Welcome Home — Religion and Politics — Bible Verse — Santa Claus — 
Taken Away the Well — Baby's Angel — Samuel's Coat — Are You 
Going to Heaven? — Climb Through — Real Good Meeting — New- 
Dress Torn — Little Crumb — Tears with Joys. 

"It's father!" was the glad shout of two members of the 
home circle, both of golden locks and spirits as gay as the 
lark, as I approached the gate after an absence of five months 
It was a glad welcome home, and added much to the joy of 
returning. 

Many cheers for the little children. How they enter into 
all the warp and woof of life. What educators they are! 
What wonder that the old prophet, referring to the good 
time coming, should have said, "A little child shall lead them," 
and that another should have added, "the streets of the city 
shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof.' 
Pity to the house that has no little ones! How many cute 
things they say! How many queer things they do! 

The little two year old, when his uncle was ill at our house 
one day, said, " I must go and pray for him," and taking his 
little chair, away he trudged into the bed room, and knelt 
down and prayed, and then got up and stood in his chair, (it 
was just before election,) and shouted at the top of his voice, 
"Hurrah for Fremont!" Then he knelt and prayed again. 
Quite a mixing up of religion and politics, but of course very 
amusing to the parents. 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 243 

Oh, the little children! How they keep mother running, 
and make a pack horse of father! How varied their occupa- 
tion! Now, they have to discipline Rover for his bad be- 
havior, and now they try to teach the cat verses of scripture. 
They sing like a nightingale, ask questions that puzzle the 
philosopher, and give advice that sets the whole house into 
convulsions. They are as busy as a bee, as chipper as a lark, 
filling the most important place in all hearts. 

The little hands of the youngest sometimes reached up and 
pulled the dishes on to the floor from the table, and so the 
brother, just a little older, proposed as a remedy one of the 
commandments, as he called it. "Listen to me now," was 
the sage advice, "and I'll teach you a Bible verse," and look- 
ing him straight in the eye, and gesticulating with the finger, 
to give particular emphasis to his words, with all the solem- 
nity imaginable it came out, '•'■Thou shalt not full the dishes 
off the table!" 

The little brothers, soon after their first knowledge of Santa 
Claus, this curious friend of all children, having experienced 
a few days before some tokens of his regard, concluded in 
their plays one day to court his favor again, and so pulling 
off their stockings and fastening them to the wall, they went 
to the lounge and lay down to make believe they were going 
to sleep, and wait for their wonderful friend to come and de- 
posit his treasures. 

As it happened they did go to sleep, and how surprised 
they were when they awoke and found their stockings filled, 
for their mother, chancing to go into the room, and seeing the 
position of things, as they were sleeping away so soundly, 
could not help taking her share in the fun. 



244 GLEANINGS BY THE WAV. 

"Surely, Santa Claus has been here," they exclaimed, on 
awaking, and seeing such proofs of his visit, in the nuts, and 
cakes, and candies, as they turned their stockings upside down. 
And how they did shout and sing, at the unexpected success 
of their make-believe visit from the great patron saint! 

" Oh, mamma, mamma," said the little girl, as she ran in from 
outside the house where the well curb had been removed for 
repairs, "They've taken the well all away, and left nothing 
but a great, big hole in the ground!" 

"Where's the baby?" said the mother one day, as the little 
thing had crept out of sight, and was as whist as a mouse. 

She had made her way into the pantry, got hold of the 
molasses jug, pulled the stopple out, and emptied the con- 
tents onto the floor — and how her tiny little hands did make 
it fly! This surely was a rare treat from the baby's angel, 
and when the mother approached, with all the innocence im- 
aginable she looked up with triumphant smile and exultant 
glee, her face, and hands, and hair, and her whole little self 
covered over with sweetness perfectly apparent. Convulsed 
with laughter, the mother exclaimed: 

"Did you ever, ever ! Oh, come quick and see the baby !" 

And if laughing conduces to digestion, certainly a good 
appetite was prepared for supper that night, for the little fairy 
did look so comical. 

However well children like new clothes, it is difficult, as 
any mother knows, to keep a child still long enough to get 
a good fit in making up its garments, and when the first coat 
and pants had caused the little man some sad experience of 
this sort, as his mother told him the story, a few days after- 
ward, of the little coat that the mother of Samuel used to 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 245 

make and carry to him in the temple once a year, he ex- 
claimed, " How nice that was for Samuel, not to have to try 
his clothes on when his mother was making them up." 

While the youngest of the group entertained an aged, 
woman of high social position and wealth with a brief his- 
tory of the family, as she came to the last, she said, "But 
Edith," on whose grave the wild flowers of the prairie 
bloomed, "has gone to heaven;" zx& you going to heaven?" 

A slight pause followed this plain and unexpected ques- 
tion, when, as if she would relieve the difficulty, she replied, 
" You can come out to Dakota and go with us ; we're all go- 
ing" — a queer little speech, as innocently made as it was 
pleasing to the worthy matron thus addressed. 

"You mustn't climb over the fence there by the rail- 
road," was the injunction given one day; "the cars may come 
along and run over you." But the very next day the little 
fellow was discovered on the other side of the fence again. 

"Come here, my son; didn't I tell you not to climb over 
the fence by the railroad ? " said the mother. 

" I didn't climb over" was the answer, " I climb through ! " 

When the little girl, one Sabbath afternoon, with hymn 
book and Bible had been having her meeting in one corner 
of the room, and for half an hour had amused herself with 
singing and make-believe reading, and praying and preach- 
ing, after the benediction, she drew a long breath and said: 

"Well it's been a real good meeting, only there wasn't 
anybody to it." 

On another occasion, the same young priestess had the 
misfortune, through a little carelessness on her part, to tear a 
new dress which her mother had just made her, when she 
was overheard praying about it. 



246 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

"Oh Lord," she said, "we greatly fear that we have torn 
our new dress; yes, we greatly fear that we have torn our 
new dress," and then, getting up and pointing to the dress in 
another part of the room, she said, with great solemnity, 
"that's the dress — that one up there." 

The hero of the following was only a little past his second 
year, when, as he sat in his high chair at the dinner table one 
day, he shoved his plate aside, and called for his dessert. 

"Yes, in a moment," was the answer; "but first clean off 
your plate, don't leave it in that way." 

It was only half a bite, but still he concluded not to eat it. 

"Then you can't have any of the nice pudding," was the 
reply, with no thonght of getting into a controversy. 

But he had taken his position, and was bound to hold it. 
Waiting till the rest had been served, he asked again, but 
made no outcry. 

"Yes," was the answer; "when you eat that little bit on 
your plate; you can have no more till you eat that." "All 
right," was the answer, as fully as actions could say it, and 
down he got on to the floor and went about his play as happy 
as need be, only by a certain bearing seeming to say, " I'll let 
you know I'm not going to eat what's left on my plate." 
" We'll put it away and you must eat it before you have any- 
thing more," he was told, and off he went, shouting and sing- 
ing and ready to do anything he was told, but this one thing. 
About the middle of the afternoon he asked his mother for 
something to eat. The crumb on the plate was offered, but he 
wouldn't touch it. At supper time he took his place at the 
table as usual, and after the blessing was asked, the dinner 
plate with its half mouthful of food was offered, but he didn't 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 247 

want it. He was hungry. He looked wistfully at the good 
things before him. "Just eat that," said his mother; "it's 
nice and good ; swallow it down like a little man, and then you 
can have all you want." But no, and again he left the table 
as cheerful and lively as ever, but still more emphatically say- 
ing, so far as actions could speak, u T*m not going to eat UP 

Just before bed time he again asked for something, but still 
refused the controverted crumb. He went to bed fasting, 
slept all night, was up as early as usual in the morning, and 
in his place at the breakfast table, but when that terrible 
plate was brought, and the same arguments as before were 
still used, he evinced the same unflinching determination, and 
finally left the table again and went about his play, as much 
as to say, "I'll let you know." 

Pretty good grit, surely, we began to think. 

At the family worship he repeated his little prayer as usual, 
and seemed perfectly tractable. In an hour or two he called 
for something to eat, but spurned the crumb of yesternoon. 
About ten o'clock he was so weak that he went onto the 
lounge of his own accord, and took a nap out of the usual 
time. When he awoke, once more he called for something 
to eat. 

"Will you take the crumb?" it was still asked, "and then 
you can have all you want." 

It was still good and wholesome; but no, he was not quite 
ready to surrender yet. 

Again he was off, as brisk as ever at his play. But just 
before noon hunger conquered, and he ran to his mother in 
all haste, and said : " Mamma, mamma, give me the crumb 
and I'll eat it!" 



248 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

Huzza! The rubicon was passed, and the parents had 
gained the day! 

It was a hot battle of twenty-four hours, but victory 
perched on the right banner, and from that time there was no 
more crossing of swords between him and his parents. It 
was a life-long victory, and a happy day for both parties in 
the strife. 

But tears mingled with joy, when the bright little spirit 
that was growing with such promise in the home of the 
shepherd of the Yankton flock was suddenly borne away to 
yield fruitage in the celestial garden, and to give a happy greet- 
ing to friends as they shall follow by and by 

Near our home had been planted a grove, and in that grove, 
looking toward the south and over the beautiful landscape, 
with our own hands we dug the grave, into which we gently 
lowered the little form, and covered it over with the earth 
consecrated by our tears, and especially precious because 
holding in its warm embrace all that remained of the departed 
loved one. A few months, and the King needed in his royal 
palace a little songster from our own home also. In the same 
beautiful grove, beside the little mound so recently made, the 
same work of love was performed in her behalf. 

" Let us go and get those flowers out on the prairie yon- 
der," said the two brothers, "and plant them on her grave." 

It was a choice little cluster, the first bright tokens of 
spring, and for a long time they grew there as emblems of 
love for the one whose little body rested beneath them. 

Those were sad days, and yet there was a deep undertone 
of joy, according to the promise of the Gospel. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Unsurpassed Skill — The Old House — Roughing It- — A Glimpse — Bushel 
of Peas — Kind Helpers — Unexpected Testimony — Some of the Re- 
turns — First Why ? — Second Why ? — Professor Phelps — Professor 
Hoppin — Professor Park — The Great Need. 

It's sometimes a wonder to the pioneer missionary how he 
lives. 

Were it not for the thrifty housewife, it would be a greater 
wonder still. She, it is certain, stands par excellence above 
all the women of the world. 

She knows how to metamorphose the old into the new — 
turning wrong side out and upside down, bringing the bright 
spots to view and concealing the dull ones, basting, quilting, 
pressing, contriving, giving a quirk here and a crimp there, 
and by the power of her magic touch quite changing to 
passable style the worn and faded piece of apparel. She 
makes the old carpet new a good many times over, and does 
divers wonderful things of the same sort '■'■per necessitate.' 1 '' 

But there are some things that transcend her wonderful 
skill, even. 

Such was a house that we were compelled to occupy for a 
time — a house through the opening in the roof of which we 
could see the stars from our bed room, as we looked up at 
night. The Cottonwood shingles and siding were so warped 
and twisted that the wind whistled through the cracks, mak- 
ing several y^olian harps in different directions, and admit- 
ting: the rains and snows ad libitum. 



250 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

After one storm, we took from the attic as much as a cart 
load of snow, but not being able to make a thorough clean- 
ing out of the cold intruder, when it thawed in the spring, 
we were so flooded by the water, that we had to remove our 
carpet from the floor, pictures from the walls, and books from 
their niche in the corner, and for several days go with rubber 
shoes to keep our feet dry. We sometimes found, on awak- 
ing in winter mornings, a good, thick, extra quilt of snow 
for a covering, and once our boots and shoes were pretty 
well filled with the frosty element. 

It almost brings the chills to think of it. 

And then the thousands of miles of travel, sometimes 
through mud and rain, and sometimes under the scorching 
heat of the sun, and again, through blinding blizzards and the 
most intense cold, sometimes sleeping on the bare prairie at 
night, and sometimes on the floor of the claim shanty, or in 
the stable with the horses, or under the straw stack in the 
field, and sometimes, because of an empty treasury in New 
York, waiting for the quarterly installment for a month, or 
two months, or three months, with grocery bills, and wood 
bills, and house rent and other accounts to meet, and at last 
borrowing money, at twenty per cent, interest, in order to es- 
cape the imputation of a dishonest debtor, are not to be men- 
tioned, I suppose, only as a part of the glory of this good 
work. 

A glimpse at six consecutive weeks: Booming times; four 
trunk-line railroads, besides several cross roads, crowded with 
newcomers; hotels overrun; the most intense activity ; goods 
piled up promiscuously in every direction, waiting to be moved 
out to the future homes of their owners; from seven to nine 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 251 

passenger coaches full of new comers twice a day; nine 
freight trains every twenty-four hours; from 3,000 to 5,000 
emigrants daily; commotion, excitement and drive on every 
hand; towns springing up like magic; fourteen churches or- 
ganized in three monlhs — three on one Sabbath; six houses 
of worship dedicated; sixteen new missionaries obtained; 
opening of a Christian college, with a hundred pupils; first 
Sabbath, preached twice, attended Sabbath school, and took 
part in a young men's prayer meeting ; next Sabbath, preached 
in the morning, atl ended Sabbath school at noon, young men's 
meeting in the afternoon and monthly concert in the evening; 
went 250 miles, preached twice, attended prayer meeting, 
counseled with the brethren, and settled some hitherto com- 
plicated questions; went on eighty miles, conferred with the 
minister about church building; took the train fifty miles, 
arranged for future work ; went forward 300 miles, answered 
a large budget of letters, talked with the friends about a new 
man; took the train eighty miles, preached twice, and spoke 
at the Sabbath school; answered fifty letters; hurried on 250 
miles, to meet the call, "Come as quickly as you can — the 
juncture is critical, and in all probability will decide the 
future of Congregationalism in this important center;" at 
night slept on the train, the next night, on the floor; ar- 
ranged matters happily; went on by train seventy-five miles, 
then eighty miles, then 150 miles, counseled with the breth- 
ren at the first two points, helped dedicate a church and raise 
a debt of $160, at the latter; drove a team fifteen miles, held 
a meeting, staged it eighty miles, half the way in the rain ; 
looked over the field, encouraged the minister to start a 
church building as soon as possible; slept on the floor; went 



252 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

by rail fifty miles, cheered up the minister, who was almost 
ready to leave through varied discouragements; rode all day 
and half the night, 300 miles; answered 100 letters; took the 
train 250 miles, and the stage fifty; helped dedicate a church 
and raise a debt of $300; had a street service, with about 
forty saloon men in the audience; preached in the new 
church; gathered in some of the street hearers; went by 
rail and hack 300 miles; answered waiting letters, arranged 
for a meeting of the General Association; visited five points, 
from fifty to a hundred miles apart, requiring 500 miles of 
travel, 200 by stage; gave four days to the annual meeting; 
took the midnight train, reached the projected point the 
next night, answered a big pile of letters; prepared items 
for some religious papers; made out report for New York, 
and yearly report for printing; started by stage at three 
o'clock in the morning; rode eighty miles, two-thirds of the 
way in the rain, helped dedicate a church and arrange for 
adding to the house of the Lord a steeple and a bell ; for two 
weeks at the American Board, at Detroit, and the National 
Council, at Concord, N. H.; gave twelve home missionary 
talks in Boston, New Bedford, Taunton and Providence, and 
spoke to the students at Andover and Yale; took in the 
meeting of the W. B. M. L, at Milwaukee, and spoke briefly; 
back to the front, at a new town of 100 houses in two weeks; 
slept in a room eight by twenty feet, eleven beds, three sleep- 
ers in a bed ; dining-room floor, kitchen floor, tables and 
chairs covered with sleepers; drove fifty miles to see one of 
the workers thought to be insane, and make new plans for 
his field; at a new town, helped start a house of worship; 
aided in the dedication of a church and the raising of a debt; 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 253 

found two lay preachers, good Bible students, and drafted 
them for the work; four days in a revival meeting, while 
planning for important changes in the town; up five nights 
on a twelve days' trip. The Lord gave strength, future ages 
will show the results, and God shall have all the glory. 

For six months it was necessary to ride sixty miles every 
week, oftentimes over the worst of roads, to keep up my ap- 
pointments, and my pay from the people was just one bushel 
of peas, which I sowed, gathering from the crop the enor- 
mous yield of three pecks. But the people were poor; they 
had nothing to give but good cheer, and this they bestowed 
without stint. 

The contributors for my missionary outfit were valuable 
helpers in the important work, enabling me, with ponies and 
buggy, to more than compass the globe. The missionary 
boxes, likewise, that came now and then from friends un- 
known, were like merchant ships, cheering the heart and 
lightening the burden, as sparkling eyes and outbursts of joy 
from both parents and children testified, as they revealed 
their contents, prepared by such loving hands. 

The Master has written in His book all these tokens of 
love, and will not forget them when He makes up His 
jewels. 

"I beg your pardon," said a man not long since, "but I 
wish to ask if you are not a minister of the Gospel ? " 

"I am." 

"Did you not preach a sermon in such a place, at such a 
time, from such a text?" 

"I did." 

" Well," said he, " as soon as I entered the dining room to- 



254 GLEANINGS &Y THE WAY. 

day, my eye fell on you, and in a moment I said, There's 
the man; I don't know who he is, or where he lives, who 
preached that sermon that I've thought of so many times. 
I shall never forget it. I'm glad to see you, and to tell you 
how much good it did me. The Lord be with you!" 

And away he hurried to the train, leaving me as ignorant 
of his history as he was of mine. 

How many utterances the future may show to have been 
thus timely, of which nothing now can be known! 

The day of judgment only can tell the large and glorious 
returns that may come from the work of the pioneer mis- 
sionary. 

It was my happy lot to share, by varied experiences, in the 
organization of more than a hundred churches, working up 
many of them from the beginning. 

This means much hard, rough service, of which ministers 
in the East know little or nothing. It means 25,000 miles of 
travel by team, in all sorts of conveyances and all kinds of 
weather, eating all kinds of food, prepared in all kinds of 
ways, sleeping in all kinds of bed rooms, sometimes in the 
stable with the horses, in the field under the hay stack, on 
the open prairie by the roadside: one night where the water 
would freeze into solid ice, and the next night, perhaps, 
where the air would be heated to suffocation, and poisoned 
by the fumes of bad tobacco and worse whiskey; going by 
rail in all sorts of cars, and on all kinds of trains, 250,000 
miles, or equal to t^n times around the globe. The churches 
increased a hundred fold. The one Sabbath school of twenty 
or thirty members grew to over two hundred schools, with a 
membership of five or six thousand. 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 255 

Yankton College crystallized into an institution of large 
promise, while the population of the Territory increased from 
a few scattered thousands to over half a million. Fifty mil- 
lion acres of land were entered, while nearly everything ad- 
vanced in like measure. 

The southern part of the Territory asked for admission 
into the Union as a new State, and voted to come in with 
prohibition on her banner, thanks to the missionary workers. 

"But why did you leave the work in Dakota which you 
had been doing with such marked results for nearly a score 
of years?" asked a friend, and the question has been repeated 
a hundred times since. 

The only answer to be given was, " That's a mystery never 
to be solved, I presume, in this world. I liked the work, and 
was zealously devoted to it." 

The secretaries at New York often expressed themselves 
as greatly pleased with it. On four different occasions I was 
called East to tell the churches about it, and stir them up to 
increased interest and larger giving. 

The Executive Committee of the Society passed resolu- 
tions highly commendatory. The General Association of 
the Territory did the same. 

The brethren in the field, with the exception, perhaps, of 
a few cases to be expected, gave similar approval; and yet, 
at great expense to myself, and the breaking up of family 
and home, I was compelled to give up my office, which, by 
long experience, I was better fitted to fill than ever before. 

Protest was useless. 

There was no court of appeal — not even a council, by 
which I could have a hearing. I had to go, though it nearly 



256 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

broke my heart to leave the work, and the hearts of those 
most intimately associated with me. 

The day of judgment may possibly tell why it was. 

"But why did you leave," it was asked again, and has been 
repeated oftener than the other was, "the Field Secretaryship 
of the American Congregational Union in New England?" 
" My dear friend," was the only answer I could give, " that's 
more difficult to explain than the other. 

I was told to go, and this completely broke our hearts. 

I had given myself wholly to the work; had spoken, for 
more than two years, twice every Sabbath, sometimes three, 
and occasionally four times each day, and often during the 
week; had taken no vacation; had received many words of 
good cheer; was everywhere welcomed, and always asked 
to come again, when, to my great surprise, the breaking up 
of family and home, with more than a thousand dollars dam- 
age to myself, it was written, that "while" I "had wrought 
faithfully and done good," and that " no man could be asked 
to be more faithful," yet I must leave the work, the sole rea- 
son assigned being the strange assertion, that I "did not raise 
money," though I held receipts for thousands of dollars; re- 
ceipts in figures like the following: $50 — more than a score 
of these, $75, $So, $90, $100 — more than twenty of this 
latter kind, $250, $350, $540, besides other sums ranging all 
through the scale. 

A collection was taken every Sabbath, and money was 
often sent to me for the Society; and often, in answer to 
my efforts, was sent by private individuals directly to the 
treasury. 

One church gave $600 in response to my appeal, and one 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 257 

man in the congregation gave a bell for a church in the 
West. 

Following my talk in another church, "I shall give," said 
one man, in addition to what the church would also give, 
"$2,000, perhaps $3,000 within the year;" and one of the 
last acts of his life was to sign papers in the interests of the 
cause. 

When word came for me to lay down my office, I was ne- 
gotiating, with a fair prospect of success, with the trustees of 
two large estates, from which nothing can now be had, and 
several large churches, hitherto making generous contribu- 
tions, have since turned their gifts into other channels. 

The secretaries of other older and larger societies pronounced 
my money raising a good showing, and my receipts were 
continually increasing, the last three months being the best 
of all. Nearly every church where I went enlarged its giv- 
ing. Many doubled their contributions, and some gave for 
the first time. Twenty churches, many of them large and 
wealthy, were asking me to come and speak to them, when 
that appalling letter so utterly confounded me by the asser- 
tion that I did not raise money ! 

A number of business men, of high standing in Christian 
circles, well acquainted with my work, insisted upon my 
meeting these calls at their charges, which I partly did, 
always finding a wide open door. The same men wished to 
keep me in the field longer, and the " Essex South and Salem 
Association," one of the largest and ablest ministerial bodies 
in New England, were heartily and unanimously opposed to 
my removal, speaking in the warmest terms of praise from 
what they had seen and known of my work. 

— *7 



258 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

A public vote of thanks was often given me at conferences, 
and after being retired from the field secretaryship, scores 
of the most flattering testimonials were sent me by eminent 
Christian workers, both East and West. Two offers were 
also made me, which for good reasons I could not accept, to 
take the agency for raising money in the interests of another 
branch of Christian benevolence, almost immediately follow- 
ing the announcement that I was a failure in this respect, 
though right in every other way. 

But no matter; I must give up my official work for church 
building, and in so doing, I tried to smooth the way as best 
I could for my successor, giving him through the religious 
papers my best blessing, with the hope that he might, and 
naturally would, be still more successful than I had been. 
And now, though not in the thick of the fight, as during the 
past twenty years, yet I gladly lend a helping hand as op- 
portunity is given. My heart is still in the work as much as 
ever, and the people at these older frontiers are as glad to 
hear about it as the churches of New England. 

The large map kindly sent me by a friend in New York 
is a wonderful object lesson, showing the vast extent of our 
national domain, and the mighty missionary field given us to 
cultivate. All are interested in the subject, which appeals 
alike to the patriot and the Christian, and after an hour's 
talk they invariably wish to hear more. Those who read 
my book can judge for themselves as to the merits of the 
case, touching the hundreds of inquiries, "Why did you leave 
the work?" 

For the many hearty words and generous — I may say more 
than generous — letters sent me after I was compelled to give 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 259 

up my office, I am justly proud. And here I record my 
heartfelt and everlasting thanks. 

But enough. The past is gone. The record is made, and 
I am sure that I can look back upon the twenty years of 
home missionary service at the front, and the four home mis- 
sionary campaigns in New England during the time, for the 
purpose of bringing, as the result, more money to the 
treasury, and the two years and over in the interests of 
church building, with more pride than I could look upon 
glorious victories won on the field of bloody battle, or rejoice 
in large material wealth gained in business, though not a dol- 
lar have we (I mean myself and mine) accumulated in the 
holy warfare to which God and the brethren have called us. 

Were we to live those years over again, we would give 
our energies to the work with the same untiring zeal as here- 
tofore, for there is certainly no other work in the world more 
important or big with promise than the great home missionary 
work. 

The privilege given the Christian people of America and 
the present generation, touching this work, is both grand and 
fearful ! 

The whole world is to be everlastingly affected by the way 
this privilege is met. 

Said an eminent professor, with great reason, truly, "If I 
were a missionary in Calcutta, my most fervent daily prayer 
would be for the success of the pioneer missionary of Amer- 
ica." 

Said another professor, "America Christianized means the 
world Christianized; and another still, "If America fails, 
the world fails." 



260 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

And now what seems to be the great, immediate, pressing 
need? 

More of the Lord's money. 

Look at a single fact as presented by Dr. Strong, in "Our 
Country : " 

"Ten millions of this people," he says, "pay $900,000,000 
a year for liquor, and as many professing Christians do not 
pay any where near a hundredth part as much — only 
$5,500,000" — for carrying forward the grandest work of 
the ages. 

The great, the crying need now seems to be, more money 
for the prosecution of missionary work in the world. The 
Master wants it, as indicated by the wide-open doors all along 
our vast frontiers — the mighty incoming empires of the West, 
so soon to decide the destiny of the world. 

Are the Christian people of to-day fully awake to this 
matter? Are we not doling out a mere pittance, when we 
should be giving most liberally? If the latter is true, we 
must be failing of the largest blessings that were ever offered 
to any people. 

What, then, is to be done? 

We must wake up to the true condition of things. We 
must bring in the tithes, and thus meet the demands and op- 
portunities of the times. The rich must give according to 
their riches, and the poor according to their poverty. 

Here we are, a great army of God's people. Christ is the 
King. He has died to purchase an inheritance for his fol- 
lowers beyond the skies. He has arisen from the dead, and 
gone up on high to prepare places for them. He will return 
very soon to take them to Himself. 



PIONEER MISSIONS. 26 1 

In the meantime, He has said, "Occupy till I come." Do 
this work of mine. Christianize America. Sustain the 
missionary work at the frontier. Build houses of worship 
and parsonages. Establish Christian colleges, and maintain 
them. Send the Gospel to the freedmen. Give it to the 
Scandinavian, the German and all the people of the Old 
World, as they come to this great New World. Send the 
Gospel abroad everywhere. 

This is spoken to every child of Christ throughout the land. 
It means that we are to do more, to give more, to bring all 
the tithes into the storehouse. 

There are millions of these tithes; and millions are needed 
for the work, and needed now. But He has given to His 
people billions — in 1SS0, as Dr. Strong in his stirring little 
book tells us, $8,725,400,000; by this time, it is estimated to 
be twelve billions. The income on that, at five per cent., 
would be $600,000,000. One-tenth of that given for mis- 
sions, the amount required of God's ancient people, would be 
$60,000,000. Is that too much? Take one-half of it, thirty 
millions, and leave the rest for the ordinary church work at 
home. This certainly could be raised without entrenching 
on a single luxury of life. 

But can it be raised ? do you ask. 

Why not? 

How P do you repeat. 

Easily enough, I think. The good people of the Lord, I 
verily believe, are waiting for it. 

Let the leaders in the churches systemize a plan — a plan 
so broad in its scope, that each member shall know his pro- 
portion, even to the little child, whose tax of five cents would 



262 GLEANINGS BY THE WAY. 

be as much, relatively, as that of the millionaire, whose share 
would be among the thousands. Thus may be carried for- 
ward the grandest warfare that the world has ever seen. 
While some might object to such a plan, the great majority 
of God's people are doubtless ready for it. 

Sectarianism, prejudice, self interest, and all petty narrow- 
ness, must be given up, of course, and through the leaders in 
the ranks the bugle note of the Lord must be sounded to go 
forward, and as sure as God is on the throne, victory will 
crown the movement, and the world will be subdued to its 
rightful Lord and Master. 

This is a matter that lies close to the great, throbbing, 
yearning heart of the Savior, who wants His people to do 
the work in all its details and branches, so far as they are able 
to do it by their consecration, their service and their money. 
That this call may soon be answered, is the earnest prayer of 
the author of this book, as I trust it may be of all its readers. 

The Lord speed the day. 



